Liverpool striker Fernando Torres returns to the club's Melwood training ground on Friday. The Spain international travelled to Barcelona at the weekend to see specialist Dr Ramon Cugat, the surgeon who in January performed the operation on the torn meniscus which kept him out for a month.
With Cugat having said that rest should allow Torres to feature next week, manager Rafael Benitez and his medical staff will have to decide whether their star striker will be fit enough to face West Ham on Monday.
Spain are certainly keeping a keen eye on developments with the World Cup less than two months away.
"Until the rest period imposed by the doctor has passed, we will not know the extent of the injury," said the Spanish Football Federation's sporting director Fernando Hierro.
"I talk to Torres every day and he is optimistic. I am too. Hopefully the problem is due to a knock, because it reduces the risk."
