Newcastle's Hatem Ben Arfa is well ahead of schedule for recovery from his horrific double leg break. The midfielder has been putting in the hours at a rehabilitation centre in the south of France and stunned club medics when they visited him last week.
His improvement is such that they have decided to pencil him in for a return to training in the first week of February.
There had been fears the Frenchman would not play again this campaign after a tackle from Nigel de Jong left him with the career-threatening injury.
"Hatem is doing really, really well," his agent Simon Stainrod told The Journal.
"He's working really hard and he's in a centre where they work intensively from Monday to Friday on the injury and it is definitely helping him to make plenty of progress.
"I think from the original prognosis, it's going to be much, much better than that. You can never tell 100% but hopefully he's going to be back in the first week of February, which is just fantastic.
"It could be later, it could be earlier but that's better than anyone thought.
"The club doctor came from Newcastle to see him last week and he was really delighted with Hatem's progress.
"He's working hard and there are a group of specialists working with him - he's really in the best place.
"He's working on his strength and that is the next step, but he's dedicated and he's absolutely determined to get back in a Newcastle shirt and repay the supporters for their support through all this."
Ben Arfa was said to have been saddened by the departure of Chris Hughton - the manager who signed him on loan from Marseille - especially after he took the time to come and visit him in France.
But he has also been encouraged by discussions he has had with Pardew and believes they can form a fruitful relationship.
"Hatem was a little upset by what happened with Chris but while it sounds harsh, football is football and his responsibility is with Newcastle United," Stainrod added.
"You have to be professional and he can't wait to start working with Alan.
"He's got a good reputation as a coach and even though he's someone different, you get used to that in football."