Ayman Benarous, the playmaker for Bristol City, has made progress in his recuperation from an injury after playing 45 minutes for the Under-21s in their 0-0 Professional Development League 2 tie against Coventry City.
Since August 2023, Benarous has not participated in any matches outside of training due to a hamstring injury he sustained while recovering from two ACL surgeries that prevented him from playing for the first team for almost two years.
At the Coventry Building Society Arena, the 20-year-old played a strong first half until Charlie Filer took his place at halftime as part of a prearranged recovery period.
Kai Churchley’s late penalty shot was stopped by Sky Blues goalie Luke Bell, leaving City seventh in the last moments, but the points were split.
The U21s next fixture is a week on Tuesday at home to Fleetwood Town, which could also include Benarous as the Bristolian steadily builds up his minutes in the hope he could be available for the senior squad before the end of the 2023/24 campaign.
Benarous, who’s under contract until next summer,
has been in training with the first-team for several weeks under Liam Manning but City have remained careful introducing him back into the fold given the extent of the injury problems he’s suffered over the last two years.
Benarous tore his ACL in May 2022 training having made 12 appearances in what appeared to be his breakthrough season for the club after long being considered one of the academy’s leading talents.
As he edged close to a comeback in December that year he then sustained a second ACL at the High Performance Centre which kept him out for a further six months before he returned for pre-season last summer.
Having again worked his way back to fitness and after playing for the U21s in August against South African side Supersport United in a behind-closed-doors friendly, he experienced another setback, this time concerning his hamstring, which moved his timeline into 2024.
Speaking about Benarous last month, “He has had a tough, long period out and I’ve been really impressed,” stated Manning, head coach of the Robins. We’ve been training with him for a few weeks now, and we plan to get him into a U21 match soon.
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