Ziyad Larkeche could return for Dundee in Monday’s crunch derby clash with rivals Dundee United.
The flying French wing-back has been out of action since suffering a nasty hamstring injury in November.
The initial prognosis said he could be out until the end of January or even into February.
However, he is set to return from parent club QPR this weekend after a positive rehab programme.
“Ziyad Larkeche will be back over the weekend,” Dark Blues boss Tony Docherty confirmed.
“His rehabilitation’s all been good, so he comes back into the squad.
“Obviously, he’s been at his parent club, so it’s important that we get eyes on him as well.
“We’ve been working really closely with them in terms of his rehab programme but once our physios get their hands on him, we’ll see exactly where he is.
“That’ll allow us to make a decision to see how game-ready he is at the moment.”
Lyall Cameron
Larkeche is a possibility for Monday’s cup derby – one who is properly back into contention is Lyall Cameron.
The 22-year-old returned to the bench in Tuesday’s draw with Celtic after a bout of flu.
He hadn’t trained, however. Now he’s back in with his team-mates day-to-day.
The question for Docherty is whether his star man goes straight back into the starting XI after two impressive team displays in his absence.
“I’ve said it from day one, whether it’s goalkeeper, whether it’s centre-forward, in my experience the only way you get success as a squad is if you get competition for places,” the Dundee boss said.
“It’s a healthy competition, the players are aware of that, they’re aware that it’s always important to stress and they need to be a good team-mate.
“I think you’ve seen that with this squad, they have gone over and above for their team-mates.
“When it’s time for people to stand up, they’ve stood up.
“But when you get somebody of the quality of Lyall Cameron made available to you again – I said it before there’s more chance of my team winning games with Lyall Cameron.
“But the important bit for me as well is to see that the ones that came in when he wasn’t available have taken their opportunities as well.
“It does give me a headache but it’s a headache I want.”
Cameron future
Speculation over Cameron’s future continues to make headlines as the Dundee star’s contract runs out at the end of this season.
That allows him to talk to other clubs over a pre-contract deal and Rangers have been credited with interest in the Scotland U/21 international.
Docherty, though, said there have been no developments over Cameron’s future.
“No, again, it’s all speculation,” he added.
“Lyall is a Dundee player and I can understand why he’s attracting attention.
“He’s been offered a contract, as have other ones.
“It’s their prerogative to decide what to do.
“But there’s just speculation with Lyall.
“At the moment he’s a Dundee player and he’s fully focused on a Dundee derby.”
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