Leacock Won't Be Rushed Back

Dean Leacock is now back after eight-month out with a groin injury but Nigel Clough isn't going to rush the defender back into action.

Leacock returned for pre-season training, along with everyone else, on Wednesday.

"Dean has been out a long time. Perversely, he has probably been looking forward to pre-season more than anybody to get back training with the rest of the players again.

But we have to be cautious with him and we certainly will not be pushing him.

It takes your body time to get used to things again. It might be that if he feels anything, he will come out of training for a day or two.

What we don't want is any prolonged absences of a week or two. We would rather a player missed a morning or afternoon session, something like that, to protect them.

We haven't seen Dean play because he was out injured last season. We have just got to take it steady with him. We certainly don't want to rush him when he has been out for eight months."

Clough was talking to the Evening Telegraph.

The 25-year-old hasn't played since he was injured in the Carling Cup win over Brighton in November, so will basically be like a new signing for Clough, who is right to take his time on easing Leacock back into the fold. We need to make sure we use the pre-season time to get him back to full fitness, that's what pre-season is all about, then he can be a part of our squad this season.

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