Aston Villa left-back Wilfred Bouma's injury nightmare could soon be over with manager Martin O'Neill tipping the Dutch international to return to action next month.
Bouma has been sidelined since suffering a dislocated ankle during the Intertoto Cup clash with BK Odense at Villa Park on July 26 of last year.
He attempted to make a comeback in March and played in three reserve games but was forced to undergo a second operation to remove floating bone from the ankle.
Bouma has been included in the Villa squad for the Peace Cup in Spain and O'Neill is hopeful a return will be sooner rather than later.
He said: "Freddy is back training. He is pretty happy with proceedings and it's just taking a bit more time. He had that setback but seems to have recovered from that.
"I reckon he might be back some time in August, but please don't hold me to that."
Bouma's enforced absence resulted in O'Neill splashing out £5 million on Reading left-back Nicky Shorey 10 days after the injury setback.
But O'Neill lost faith in the defender after a poor performance against Middlesbrough in November and did not select him for another Barclays Premier League game for four months.
He preferred to switch right-back Luke Young to the opposite flank with Nigel Reo-Coker often deputising in his accustomed role.
But a poor performance by Reo-Coker in the 5-0 defeat by Liverpool at Anfield led to Young reverting to right-back and paved the way for Shorey's recall during the final month of the campaign.
