At last the moment that Saints supporters have been waiting for, Sofiane Boufal returns to full training with his debut now in his sights.

When Saints signed Sofiane Boufal they knew that he was injured, but although the club knew the extent of his injury and had a carefully devised programme aimed at getting him back to fitness not just with regard to his knee injury but also his physical condition, the supporters were left pretty much in the dark with the only concrete news being Claude Puel stating at a press conference that the player should be fit after the International break.

Now that seems to be the case and Boufal is right on track with news and pictures on the club's official website confirming that on Thursday the record signing from Lille took part in his first full training session.

That does not mean that the club have not been working on his fitness in the six weeks or so since he joined, but there is a big difference between being able to work on stamina training, ie running, sprinting strength etc and taking part in sessions that involve physical contact with other members of the squad in training games etc.

But he is now ready for that and came through his first day unscathed.

The job now is to get him match action and hat could take up to two weeks, that could first involve a run out for the academy side and then an introduction to first team football.

Realistically that could come with being involved with the squad for the trip to the San Siro to take on Inter Milan on 20th October or the league game at Manchester City, although it is more likely that his first sighting in a first team shirt will come against Sunderland in the League Cup on Wednesday 26th October.

Certainly it is good news for Saints fans though who have heard much about the player and have been looking forward to seeing him.

Boufal himself is looking forward to starting his Saints career as he revealed when speaking to the Saints official website.

“I am very, very happy to be back in training, It’s a moment that I’ve been waiting for."

“I’ve been working really hard to get back to this point today, so it is very satisfying to get back out on the training pitch with the rest of the group.”

“It will take time, as this is just my first training session, I’ve got a fortnight now to really work with the group and the manager, and after that we will see how things are going as to when the first match will be for me.”

“I feel very good, as I say, I have worked really well with the physios and the physical trainers, and today I feel good, I feel fresh, I feel strong and I am happy to be back out on the pitch.”

Photo: Action Images

SaintBrock added 10:12 - Oct 10 There has been plenty of debate about Boufal in the "other place", so there can be little to add that has not been said before. What disturbs me most is that this article only appeared on the OS after fierce criticism of the club in the "other place" over the lack of information from the club on the players recovery and fitness. It's not the first time the OS has been forced into a response and this modus operandi is deplorable. It is reactive rather than proactive and is anything but transparent. How can we March on as One if fans are kept in the dark about quite important club matters and the club regard the need to keep us informed of minor importance?

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arthurfane added 12:09 - Oct 10 The club can hardly report Boufal is back in training before he's back in training. They've reported his return to training on the morning of that return. If we'd had further updates in the interim, it would simply have been to inform us that his comeback in continuing but he's not yet in full training - I, for one, don't need to hear that. I agree that the club sometimes keeps us fans in the dark, but this is not such an instance in my opinion.

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