Thomas Hitzlsperger has returned to West Ham United to continue his rehab from surgery.
The 28-year-old has been denied the opportunity to make his competitive West Ham United debut after suffering a thigh injury in August.
Hitzlsperger underwent surgery in Germany in October and had been recuperating in his homeland before returning to the Hammers' training ground this week.
"It's a tendon injury and I needed surgery," Hitzlsperger told WHUTV. "I spoke to several doctors and they all said the same - I needed surgery and it would take me four months to get back to playing. It got done in the middle of October so I should be back in the middle of February.
"There's not a lot you can do after this kind of surgery. The doctors told me to rest for the first four weeks as I was on crutches and couldn't really do much. I started to do conditioning work and to run a week ago.
"Now, the healing process is going well and I'm quite optimistic I'll be able to play in February. Things could obviously happen in between but I'm just hoping I will continue making the same progress over the next two months and I'll be back in February."
