Reece Flanagan hopeful of pre-season Walsall return
Walsall's Reece Flanagan has vowed to work through the summer to ensure he is fully fit in time for pre-season.
The 22-year-old has endured an injury blighted year after first tearing his anterior cruciate knee ligament back in April 2016.
Flanagan battled his way back to full fitness only to then dislocate his shoulder on his first game back for the development squad.
But after taking part in a two-day training block last week, the midfielder believes his injury woes will soon be firmly in the past.
"The aim is to come back for pre-season as normal," Flanagan said.
"I can start doing press-ups and light weight work now so I should be able to.
"In a way the shoulder injury could be a blessing in disguise as it’s given me time to look at my knee. I’ve got to keep maintaining myself with the knee.
"I need to make sure I build strength over the summer.
"But I can start earlier with my fitness than the rest of the lads this season. We’ve got another six weeks until we start, so I can build my fitness ahead of pre-season."
Despite suffering a succession of serious injuries – Flanagan, who had made 30 appearances for the Saddlers – has remained positive throughout.
"For me, I’ve never taken the time to look at the negatives," he continued. "I always set myself a target. With the knee, I said I’ll aim for Christmas or January to return, so having done that I put it to the back of my mind.
"Then I had two or three months with the shoulder. I just had to concentrate on getting ready for the start of next year.
"Hopefully I can play more of a role this year. Hopefully I can push on."
Boss Jon Whitney said Walsall will be careful how they monitor Flanagan's shoulder.
"He trained fully but we’ll still be managing him as regards to contact with the shoulder," he added.
"We’ll give it as long as we can before we start to put that through real force."
