The 25-year-old has worked his way back to fitness after a lengthy period out
Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic has revealed how Liam Millar is dying to get back into the first team picture after almost a year out with an ACL injury.
Millar returned to full training last week, 47 long weeks after limping out of the action early on in the 1-1 draw with Burnley at the MKM Stadium back in October.
The winger, dubbed the ‘Canadian Messi’ by teammate Matt Crooks, could be in the squad this weekend when City host Southampton at the MKM Stadium, in what will be their first home outing in almost a month as they look to back up Saturday’s encouraging 2-2 draw at Swansea City.
Millar’s return to the fold is another major boost, coming on the back of Mohamed Belloumi’s long-awaited return last month against Blackburn Rovers, and gives Jakirovic another key selection issue out on the flanks, joining Joel Ndala and David Akintola.
“You see his quality immediately,” the Croatian told Hull Live. “He’s a very fast player, very explosive, very good with the ball, shooting left foot, right footed. We need to be careful there, but he’s dying to play.”
Jakirovic admits he does wince when he sees players near him in training, and is still keen for his teammates to be careful in these early stages of his return to full-contact training, but says the exciting attacker has no fear which is a crucially important part of regaining his confidence.
“If somebody is near to him, (I say) watch him and not go one hundred per cent to challenges because it’s better for us if something happened, then I will be guilty, but till now it’s good.
“He doesn’t have fear. This is good, and he trained normally. If you go now and watch the training, you will not notice he was 10 months out of the pitch, so this is good.”
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