Scott Wright is back and ready to prove himself as a first-team regular at Aberdeen.
The winger missed most of last season after suffering cruciate ligament damage during training in September but have returned to full fitness the 22 year-old is ready to make up for lost time.
He said: “I need to try to break into the team and to really establish myself. I want to be one of the first names on the teamsheet under the manager.
“I have been running through lockdown and I feel really good. I am raring to go, I am buzzing to get started. It is great to be back with the boys and kicking a ball.”
The incident last year which put Wright on the sidelines for months remains as vivid today as it was back in September and the attacker was quick to pay tribute to Adam Stokes, head of medical at the club, for the role he played in ensuring he has returned to full fitness.
He said: We had the international break and it was our first session back and we were training at the barracks. The ball was rolling towards me and I had my back to goal and I just tried to turn and I am to this day not sure what happened.
“My foot got stuck in the ground, my body turned around and my knee went the other way. It felt like it happened in slow motion and I heard a crack as I twisted and I remember falling back and hitting the ground.
“It felt really sore and in the back of my head I was thinking: ‘Surely that is not my ACL’. Stokes saw it and he ran over to me. We did the tests and I was fine.
“I got a scan the next day and then Stokes phoned me to say it was bad news. He told me I had done my ACL and I couldn’t believe it.
“The night I got the call was the only one I was down and disappointed about the injury. I think personally that is down to Stokes.
“I knew how good he was and he reassured me I needed to use it as a stepping stone, I will come out better for it and I am in the safest hands possible.”
Specialist surgeon Gordon Mackay performed the surgery and Wright has used team-mate Mikey Devlin as inspiration in ensuring he made a complete recovery.
He said: “Mikey was brilliant for me in more ways than one. I know Mikey has done it a couple of times and Adam had said: ‘You should watch Mikey, how he prepares for training and looks after himself after it’.
“Mikey was always in the gym to make sure it didn’t happen again. That is something I watched without really saying to Mikey.”