Obasi working hard on his comeback

While his team-mates were away on holiday during the close season, Chinedu Obasi was having a pin removed from his left tibia, the remnant of a stress fracture he sustained playing for Hoffenheim in November 2010. In this interview with schalke04.com, the Nigerian international talks about his return to training and his Bundesliga comeback.

Chinedu Obasi, a long period of injury misery is slowly coming to an end. Your delight at being able to train with the squad again is written all over your face. How are you feeling?

I'm glad to back out on the pitch again with the boys. It's a very nice feeling. I'm making good progress but I'm not back to my full performance level yet so I'm working hard with our rehab and athletic trainers to find my form again as quickly as possible.

When do you think you'll be able to make your competitive return?

I don't want to rush things so I'm not setting myself any specific targets for a return to Bundesliga action. It's important to take one step at a time and to do that without any self-imposed pressure because that won't achieve anything. I want to be fully fit when I return so I can show the fans what I can do. At the moment I can take part in some of the sessions, I just can't do everything yet.

Sometimes you train on your own to one side while your team-mates are knocking the ball round on the pitch.

That's really tough and no fun at all but I'm trying to make the best of it. There's no point getting in a bad mood about it. My training programme is bringing me on. I see it all like a competition with the goal of finding my way back into the team.

Many fans won't have realised that you played in pain during your first six months in a blue-and-white shirt. Will your first full season be like starting all over again at Schalke?

Obviously I want to improve my performance this season and I'm confident I can do that. It's not easy to play football when you're in pain but I gritted my teeth and carried on. We're all very ambitious and want to win as many games as possible. Third place last season was a good result and we want to reaffirm that.