Bundesliga hopefuls Borussia Dortmund were this week given a boost with Turkish midfielder Nuri Sahin returning to full training for the title-chasing Bundesliga outfit.
The 27-year-old hasn't played a competitive match in nine months, his last outing against local rivals Schalke 04 in late February of this year. His lengthy absence was caused by an adductor injury.
A sense of relief
According to bundesliga.com, Sahin will increase his workload over coming month and die Schwarz-Gelben will hope to welcome him back to competitive action after the Winterpause.
Sahin, who has just shy of 50 international caps for his native Turkey, took to social media sites Twitter and Instagram to express his delight at returning. He said "Finally. How much i've missed this feeling... the smile on my face says it all." He also attached a picture expressing his pleasure at being back in training.
Will he slot straight back into the starting eleven?
The Bundesliga winner and DFB-Pokal runner-up has only registered seven appearances for Dortmund since returning to the North Rhine-Westphalia side on a permanent basis in 2014.
In truth, his absence hasn't been all that disastrous for Dortmund, who will be pleased to see Ilkay Gündogan and youngster Julian Weigl, who signed from 2. Bundesliga outfit TSV 1860 München in the summer, form a very impressive partnership. Nonetheless, Thomas Tuchel will welcome back Sahin and competition for places with open arms.
Dortmund's first game after the Winterpause is a trip to Borussia-Park to go toe-to-toe with Andre Schubert's Borussia Mönchengladbach, who have enjoyed a real upturn in fortunes since Schubert replaced Lucien Favre at the Gladbach helm, a game in which fans of Borussia Dortmund could well see the long awaited return of Sahin.