Aston Villa striker Libor Kozak, who scored in their recent pre-season defeat against Sky Bet Championship side Fulham, is eyeing a positive return to the first-team after having suffered a troublesome eighteen months with a broken leg lay-off.
The 26-year-old forward, who has not played a competitive fixture since December of 2013, only featured once last term - in an U21 match.
Attacking options looking light
After the sale of Christian Benteke to Liverpool for a hefty transfer fee of £32.5million pounds, Tim Sherwood's attacking options are fairly limited ahead of the new season. With that being said though, Lorient striker Jordan Ayew is set to join the Villans in an £8.5million pound move - so that's another outlet to add into the ranks.
Gabriel Agbonlahor, young talented forward Callum Robinson and Ayew (deal permitting) would be the only recognised strikers at the club, along with Kozak ahead of the new campaign. Although Kozak will not be expected to flourish from the word go, he will be hoping for consistency and plenty of goals to help assert his place within the first-team on a regular basis.
Eager to impress - but it will not be easy
In fifteen appearances with the west Midlands club, he scored four goals since his move from Serie A side Lazio two years ago. He said it was 'nice to think about the football again' after his troublesome injury problems over the past eighteen months. He acknowledged that he did well before his injury, saying that it was his first season in the English top flight - 'it was okay, I want to improve.'
After two operations to repair his broken leg, he admitted that it was a tough battle emotionally for him to recover, stating it was sometimes hard to stay positive, especially during the second operation. However, he had to 'keep going forward to try and stay positive' and therefore 'come back fit without any problems.'
He hailed the fans' support for him through the setbacks as they motivated him to keep going. As a result, the Czech Republic international has adamantly vowed to keep improving and look to impress as he eagerly awaits a chance to shine as a sign of his thankfulness to those who did not forget him, saying 'I have to now demonstrate that I can now do something for them.'