Sam Stubbs: Exeter City defender set to begin training after injury

Sam Stubbs last started an EFL game on 17 October 2020

Exeter City's Sam Stubbs is set to begin training for the first time since joining the club in January.

The 22-year-old centre-back joined City from Fleetwood Town in January but has been sidelined with a knee injury.

He has played once in the past year, in an EFL Trophy game on 8 December.

"Sometimes the last hurdle's the hardest to get over, but we're all sat here with our fingers crossed that Sam will be able to do that," said Exeter City manager Matt Taylor.

Stubbs agreed a two-and-a-half-year deal with Exeter in January and the former Middlesbrough youngster had loan spells at Notts County, Hamilton and Dutch side ADO Den Haag before joining Fleetwood in September last year.

"There's no pressure on him immediately," Taylor added to BBC Sport.

"We've just got to let Sam play to start with, let him find his feet, let him find some sort of rhythm, some sort of structure in his week in relation to his knee, his body and his game.

"Then we'll hopefully start to judge him from maybe Christmas or January onwards, and by that time we hope he'll be in and around the first team, if not featuring."

While Stubbs - the son of former Everton and Celtic defender Alan - has been unable to train with his new team-mates, he has still been able to impress Taylor with his his work ethic and commitment to his recovery.

"He has gone through every single range of emotion in the last eight to 10 months and full credit to him, he seems a level-headed lad," he said.

"He's had a good upbringing, he's got a football family and a football brain about him, but he's had so many setbacks in the last six to eight months that it would have broken lesser men, but he's stayed so strong in his mind.

"The biggest complement I can give him is I've never seen anyone work as hard as he does in the gym, so we'll know he'll cover every single inch of ground he needs to in relation to his rehab and recovery to give himself the best chance of getting back on the football pitch.

"We've got to give him a little bit of time now where we let him play and train to find his own route into the first team."