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Cape Town - Kaizer Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp says goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune is set to make his return to action sometime in August.
Khune missed much of last season with a serious shoulder injury which also kept him out of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Egypt for Bafana Bafana.
The player was selected to take part in last Saturday's Carling Black Label Cup final defeat against Orlando Pirates but was withdrawn as a precautionary measure, as Bruce Bvuma took his place.
Nonetheless, Middendorp says the 32-year-old is well on the road to recovery and is to return next month.
He told reporters: "The medical side confirmed that Itu will definitely be available in August for selection.
"We have to look now from a training perspective how soon we can bring him into the area that he feels comfortable.
"We have to prepare him, and this is a decision on an experienced goalkeeper at this level, in co-operation with goalkeeper coach Lee Baxter, we have to decide and find out, is it in two weeks? Is it in three weeks?
"But definitely in August he'll be available, I'm quite sure. He looks very good, very impressive. I haven't really seen it before, but he had an outstanding contribution during our camp, where we worked hard from 08:00 every morning until 19:30 every day."
Middendorp added: "There was no day off, there was no half-day off. On the field and off the field, I think I've seen an outstanding contribution from Itu Khune, and I'm very happy that he can be part of the team regularly.
"It's an outstanding contribution that we will expect to see in the games when he's in [the field of play]."
