West Ham Defender Winston Reid Close to Full Training Return as Fitness Improves

West Ham defender Winston Reid is approaching a return to full training with the club as he continues his rehab from a niggling shin condition, which ruled him out of the Hammers' final two Premier League fixtures last season. 

Reported by West Ham's official website, the New Zealand international has stepped up his fitness work of late, and has made sure the injury has not kept him out of the club's pre-season expeditions after arriving in Germany with his teammates on Monday following their visit to Austria. 

The 29-year-old, who famously scored the last ever goal at Upton Park, said: “Hopefully in the next week or so I should be back, which we were sort of aiming for

“Generally, the rehab has been really good and the surgery has fixed the problem, which is the most important thing. I’ll be able to go out there and play pain-free, which is a blessing.

“It was just one of those things that you get every now and then. You get various knocks and bruises and you fix them and this one has been fixed now.”

Reid will be eager to return to training and get to know the likes of Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta, Javier Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic better as the Hammers look to integrate their new signings, and Reid believes they will massively improve the Irons' squad. 

The Hammers fans' favourite said: “We finished the season on a good note, apart from the Liverpool game, and we really did well. We hope to take that form into the new season and we’ve also welcomed some new players into the fold.

“When you combine them with the ones who are still here, we want to make sure that what happened at the beginning of last season doesn’t happen again and we get off to a strong start.

“To get them in at this stage so we’ve still got time ahead of the season for them to gel with the team is massively important. They are all players who have done well in the Premier League and played in England for numerous years, so it has been a brilliant bit of business done by the Club so far.”