'I'm looking forward to coming back again'

FCBayernNews · News fetcher Joined: 31 Aug 2006 Posts: 1240 votes: 2

26.08.2006

Five months after sustaining the fifth serious knee injury of his career, Sebastian Deisler says he is ready to resume squad duty. "My aim is to rejoin the team sessions in mid-September," the 26-year-old declared during a promotional appearance with Bayern partner T-Com in Berlin on Friday.

"I'm in great shape physically," he continued, looking relaxed and in good spirits. "It's going well, I've done a little work with the ball, but I still need a few more sessions after finishing the rehab programme. We're taking each day as it comes for now." The midfielder's recovery programme is supervised by specialist coach Oliver Schmidtlein, who also currently has charge of 22-month lay-off man Andreas Görlitz.

Aiming for regular berth

"Over the mid-term, I'm confident of regaining my place at Bayern and for Germany, although there's a long way to go," the player remarked. Deisler sustained the latest injury while training in March, missing out on the summer World Cup in a gruesome echo of the injury which prevented him playing in Korea and Japan in 2002. The midfielder was forced to watch Germany's swashbuckling progress on TV.

"That hurt a lot, but I was delighted for the team. They silenced the critics, and unleashed a fantastic atmosphere here in Germany," Deisler commented. New Germany boss Joachim Löw has already called the player who is under contract to Bayern until June 2009. "He wished me the best of luck for my comeback," Deisler revealed.

Driven by love of the game

Deisler has undergone six rounds of knee surgery, and also spent a period out of the game with depression, in a top flight career which began in 1998. He had come through the latest rehab programme "thanks to the energy I derive from my family."

However, the player confessed he had suffered dark moments when he questioned his ability to return at the highest level. "During a very gloomy period, you do wonder whether you'll be forced out of the game with injury. We'll see how stable I am mentally once I'm back in training. But I love playing football, that's what drives me on. That's what I work towards every day. I'm looking forward to coming back again."