Somma on track for Leeds return

Davide Somma’s agent says the Leeds United striker is expected to make his return from injury before the end of the season.

South Africa international Somma has been sidelined since suffering a knee injury during pre-season training in July.

But with Simon Grayson’s Leeds side fighting for a play-off place, agent Paul Nicholls said his client could be back playing before the end of March.

“We’re hoping in six to eight weeks he will be in contention to play but it’s important that he takes things slowly,” Nicholls told KickOff.com.

“The progress has been really good – he’s ahead of schedule and the physio is really happy but obviously there is still a long way to until he gets back to full fitness and match fitness.”

“Hopefully he’ll get a chance to play some matches before the end of the season.”

Somma made his Bafana Bafana debut against the USA in November 2010, and had established himself as a regular in Pitso Mosimane’s squad.

His injury caused him to miss the last two Nations Cup qualifying matches as South Africa failed to reach the continental tournament finals, with Nicholls acknowledging the timing could not have been worse.

“It was a real shame – it was all new for Davide and he was just getting involved in the team,” he said.

“They had a couple of good results to start the campaign and to not qualify was a bit of an own goal. But that’s football and hopefully he can get back involved again for the next tournament.”