Birmingham City boss Lee Bowyer expects Manchester United winger Tahith Chong to soon resume his loan.

Birmingham signed Chong on a season-long loan prior to the injury occurring.

The 22-year-old was impressing for the Championship side and had made 13 appearances before being struck by the thigh injury.

It required surgery and a prognosis of four to five months was mentioned.

But issuing an update on Chong, Blues' chief Bowyer believes that the midfielder could be back before then.

Bowyer said: “Chongy was at our game last weekend, it was good to see him around the lads again.

“All I can say is he is ahead of schedule. I don't want to say days, weeks, months – whatever it is. All I know is he is ahead of schedule which is good.

“Obviously he is back at Man United getting treatment and they are looking after him, so we know he is getting very, very well looked after there – which is positive for us. It was good to hear that last week.

“Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly, he is still a long, long way away but fingers crossed we see him at some stage before the end of the season."