James Vaughan could return for Huddersfield Town
Thursday 15 October 2015 17:19, UK
Huddersfield striker James Vaughan appears to be back in manager Chris Powell's plans - for the time being at least.
Vaughan, 27, is out of contract at the end of this season and appeared to be heading out of the club in the summer after being told he would not be offered a new deal.
A move to Wigan appeared likely in August - Blackburn and Fulham were also reported to be interested - while a calf injury has restricted Vaughan to one substitute's appearance this season.
"I know there's always a clamour to bring James back in but he's got to be right," said Powell ahead of Saturday's game at Ipswich.
"He's got to be fit and to be fair to him he's been training and hasn't missed any of that.
"He's just had his first 45 minutes in a long time (in the recent behind-closed-doors friendly at Manchester City), and I mean a really long time, you you have to go back to pre-season.
"But he's been training and putting himself about and been doing some finishing sessions and he's looking ok, so he's in contention for the squad and hopefully we can build on the work he's done so far."
Huddersfield paid Norwich a reported £2million for Vaughan two years ago amid concerns among some fans that they had signed an injury-prone player.
He has been dogged by knee and calf injuries and suffered a fractured eye socket and cheekbone in January, but has still scored 33 goals in 92 appearances for Huddersfield since arriving, initially on loan, in August 2012.
"Hopefully we can get James Vaughan out there doing what he does best," Powell added.
"With players who've been out for a while the temptation is to rush them back in and then they break down, so we've got to make sure we do it right by him until we can get the maximum out of him.
"Then there will be a right time to start him. Who knows when that will be but he's back with us now and we've got to do our best to keep him right, keep him fit and get him back out on the field for us."
Huddersfield extended goalkeeper Jed Steer's loan spell from Aston Villa for another month on Thursday and Powell also hopes to keep Bournemouth defender Elliott Ward for longer.
"We're talking with Bournemouth now and hopefully we'll get that resolved in the next day or two to see where we got with it," Powell said.
