8:01am Wednesday 27th August 2008
MANCHESTER City target Craig Bellamy could make his long-awaited return to the West Ham United squad in Saturday's Premier League clash with Blackburn Rovers.
The Wales hitman – who was the subject of an unsuccessful inquiry from City manager Mark Hughes this week – has been out of action since injuring his right hamstring in a pre-season friendly at Ipswich Town on August 4.
Before then, however, the striker had been in red-hot goalscoring form and Irons manager Alan Curbishley is keen to throw Bellamy back into action as soon as possible.
The Cardiff-born striker has played just one competitive game since October 2007, in the 1-0 defeat at Wigan Athletic in February.
Bellamy has a remote chance of being involved in Wednesday's Carling Cup second round tie against Macclesfield Town, but Curbishley is far more likely to wait until the visit of one of the 29-year-old's former clubs to name the forward in his squad for the first time this season.
“He's in full training so he's more realistic for Saturday (than Wednesday),” Curbishley revealed.
“If he doesn't make Saturday then obviously we've got the international break.
“I don't think it's a question of letting him with Wales. It's a question of being sensible because he's been out for four weeks.
“We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. We've got to get through this week first.
“I don't know if he'll be playing on Saturday. He's so fit as a person so we'll have to see how he gets on this week.”
Bellamy was initially injured exactly a year ago, suffering an abdominal problem after scoring twice in the Hammers' 2-1 Carling Cup win at Bristol Rovers last August.
And, after soldiering on for a month, Bellamy was sidelined for a month before returning for Wales's Euro 2008 qualifiers against Cyprus and San Marino in October.
“It's uncanny really. Every time he seems to get fit it falls on an international break,” Curbishley half-joked, adding that the former Norwich City and Newcastle United man was unlikely to play in next week's 2010 World Cup qualifiers against Azerbaijan and Russia, despite being named in John Toshack's squad.
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