Huddersfield Town A.F.C. manager Chris Powell has revealed striker James Vaughan is back in contention for a first-team place despite being told he would not be offered a new deal in the summer.
Vaughan, whose current contract is set to expire at the end of the season, was linked with the likes of Blackburn, Fulham, and Wigan Athletic in August, but no deal materialised. And a calf injury has kept the player sidelined for all but one league fixture this season.
Nevertheless, Powell has hinted Vaughan could be included in the squad to face Ipswich Town on Saturday.
“I know there’s always a clamour to bring James back in but he’s got to be right,” Powell said.
“He’s got to be fit and to be fair to him he’s been training and hasn’t missed any of that.
“He’s just had his first 45 minutes in a long time (in the recent friendly at Manchester City), and I mean a really long time, you you have to go back to pre-season.
“But he’s been training and putting himself about and been doing some finishing sessions and he’s looking ok, so he’s in contention for the squad and hopefully we can build on the work he’s done so far.”
Powell added: “Hopefully we can get James Vaughan out there doing what he does best.
“With players who’ve been out for a while the temptation is to rush them back in and then they break down, so we’ve got to make sure we do it right by him until we can get the maximum out of him.
“Then there will be a right time to start him. Who knows when that will be but he’s back with us now and we’ve got to do our best to keep him right, keep him fit and get him back out on the field for us.”
Vaughan, 27, tallied seven goals and two assists in 26 Championship appearances for the Terriers last term.
Huddersfield are priced at 1/7 to finish in the bottom half of the Sky Bet Championship table in 2015/16.
Meanwhile, in other news, Liverpool striker Danny Ings is reportedly set to miss the rest of the season after suffering a cruciate ligament injury.
Ings, who made his England debut in Monday’s 3-0 win over Lithuania, is the latest Liverpool player to be sidelined due to injury.
The Reds will be without Christian Benteke and Roberto Firmino for Saturday’s trip to White Hart Lane, while summer arrival Joe Gomez was also ruled out long-term earlier this week.
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