GOOD FOR THE LEEDS UNITED:HE IS BACK

GOOD FOR THE LEEDS UNITED:HE IS BACK

Coventry City’s Mark Robins has admitted that the situation must be “horrendous” for summer signing Raphael Borges Rodrigues, who is yet to make his debut for the club. The 21 year old winger, who joined from Australian A League side Macarthur FC in the summer, suffered a thigh strain during a pre-season training friendly against Port Vale and has been working on his recovery ever since.

 

“There’s progress but it’s very slow going,” Robins revealed when asked about the right-sided player, who is expected to compete with Tatsuhiro Sakamoto once he returns to full fitness. “The difficulty is that it is not an exact science. You can push people too hard and they can break down. The medical and sports science department are treating him with kid gloves and hoping that they don’t break him, on the understanding he’s getting stronger.”

He added: “We have just got to be careful with him. If I grab hold of him and try to get him out on the grass and up to speed too quickly, chances are that he’ll break down again. But he has got to become robust to have a career in the game. And whilst it’s disappointing, it must be horrendous for him and really frustrating because he came here looking to hit the ground running.”

Robins is certainly hopeful that having Raphael, who prefers to be known by his first name in tribute to his Brazilian father and former professional striker, Cristiano dos Santos Rodrigues, will be like welcoming a new player to the team.

“He’s a good player with a lot of really good attributes there, so he could be a really exciting addition,” he said, “but obviously, it’s going to take a little bit more time than we expected, or anticipated. We have just got to accept it.”, reports Coventry Live.

 

Robins is hopeful to get his summer signing playing sooner rather than later as Coventry search for a lift after a poor start to the season. Robins’ side have had two League Cup wins and a narrow 2-1 defeat against Tottenham in a game they could easily have won, but in the league have just one victory so far and are struggling at the wrong end of the table ahead of facing Leeds United on Saturday.