Ferrie Bodde has told Wales on Sunday that he will not put a date on his return following another setback

Initially it was hoped that the Swansea City midfielder would be back at the start of the new season but an infection has put pay to that and Ferrie is now not putting a date on what he hopes will be an end to a nightmare two year period in his career.

He told Wales on Sunday “I can’t say when I will be back now

“I will definitely play next season, but we don’t know when.

“Initially, I was hopeful I could be back by late September. Now I don’t want to put a date on it.

“All I can say is that it may be a while. We just have to take it on a month-by-month basis and see how I am doing.

“I want to be as strong as possible when I return. Unfortunately that doesn’t always mean you are back as quickly as you want to be.

“The operation went really well and the surgeon did a really good job. But then, after two weeks, I had a swollen knee and they discovered I had an infection.

“They say one in six people get them after operations like this and it was just another bit of bad luck. It was nobody’s fault, but it meant I had to go in and have another minor operation to clean it out.

“I was really disappointed, but everything is going well now so I will be stepping up my rehab again very soon. It was a big setback, but now I am back on track.

“I can’t wait to play again, but it’s more important that I take as long as I need this time, if it were to happen again then it would be very hard for me to come back at all so I have to look after my body.

“I didn’t admit it to myself at the time, but perhaps I didn’t listen to my body enough before. This time, if I need to slow down, I will.

“I know the new season is coming and I desperately want to be a part of it. But I can’t get carried away, I just need to make sure I am ready.

“I know I’m not finished yet and I want to be a big part of Swansea’s future,” he defiantly declared. “I feel like I need to repay the club as well.

“I don’t want to be earning money without doing anything to help the club. And I know they don’t want to be paying me just to be in the gym, they want me to be playing football.

“It’s not like I am not working hard every day though. It may look like I am doing nothing to some people, but I work every day to try and get fit again.

“If Swansea are patient with me, I believe I can deliver for them again. We just need to make sure we get the recovery right this time.”

Photo: Action Images

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