Matthijs de Ligt has been pictured training on grass as the Manchester United defender steps up his rehabilitation from a nagging back injury.
The 26-year-old made a strong start to what has turned into a nightmare season, having been sidelined since helping the Red Devils to a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace on 30 November.
De Ligt has been unable to make a squad since Michael Carrick took charge, with the United head coach admitting last month there was no guarantee that the defender would play again this campaign.
The United boss said a back issue was "proving difficult" for the Netherlands international, who was having to keep patient and positive as he attempted to overcome the injury.
De Ligt will again be absent when United host Brentford on Monday, but the club published a positive update showing pictures of him working under the supervision of club medical staff.
The Premier League club said: "De Ligt is working on the grass doing some individual training.
"The centre-back is working individually and doing everything he can to return.
"De Ligt is focused on returning to full fitness, as of yet Michael Carrick has not disclosed a timescale when he is due to return to action."
Fellow centre-back Harry Maguire will return from a two-game ban in Monday's match against Brentford, but Lisandro Martinez remains suspended.
Leny Yoro missed last weekend’s 1-0 win at Chelsea through injury and will be assessed, while Patrick Dorgu continues his rehabilitation from a hamstring issue.
"To be honest, everything’s alright, as it was," Carrick said of United’s injuries.
"Couple of knocks and niggles a little bit, coming out of the game, that you’d expect.
"Patrick’s working his way to being back, certainly making good progress and back closer to training with us, which is positive, so that’s good news.
"(Yoro), we’re still working on that one. So, there’s a possibility, there’s a possibility, but at this stage, it’s not 100% sure."
Meanwhile, Sebastian Coe admitted the timeline to build the club's new stadium was "slightly uncertain", but he believed it was "moving in the right direction".
Coe, who oversaw London’s 2012 Olympic and Paralympic bid, is chair of the Mayoral Development Corporation for the Old Trafford regeneration project.
The former International Olympic Committee president previously chaired a task force set up by United owner Jim Ratcliffe to look at stadium options for the club amid a wider regeneration of the surrounding area.
Coe is now playing a key part in the development of the 100,000-seater stadium, which Ratcliffe hopes will become the 'Wembley of the north’.
However, he revealed that acquiring the land needed for the project – set to cost an estimated £2 billion (€2.3bn) – was proving to be "complicated".
Speaking on The Sports Agents podcast, Coe said: "I love regeneration projects and I was really pleased to be asked to get involved in that.
"I do actually believe in good, locally-funded projects to make lives easier for local people. And I also saw from the London model that if you build it around sport, the multiplier impact of getting other stuff done is far quicker than it would have been.
"Land acquisition is always complicated. I know that from London, so, at this moment, it’s just putting the stuff together sequentially and incrementally and using a world-class stadium to be a catalyst for so many other things, including inward investment.
"So, it’s about jobs, it’s about housing, it’s about educational aspiration and I’ve seen sport so often used properly, changing local landscapes and this is an exciting project."
As for the timescale, Coe added: "Well, again, it’s slightly uncertain at the moment. The stadium is being scoped and being improperly scaled.
"But again, that is also dependent on the purchasing and the acquisition of various other parcels of land in that space.
"That’s all taking place at the moment and I won’t maintain a running commentary on that, but we’re moving in the right direction."
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