Injured Bristol City star nears return after 15-month absence

Nigel Pearson says Bristol City midfielder Ayman Benarous is edging closer to a return to the pitch following over a year on the sidelines.

The 20-year-old suffered a ruptured ACL towards the latter stages of the 2021/22 season, and just as he was making steps to get back to match fitness, he fell victim to a second rupture that has seen him on the road to recovery since December.

City hosted South African outfit SuperSport United in a behind-closed-doors friendly at the High-Performance Centre on Wednesday afternoon, which provided an opportunity for the former Robins schoolboy to get a taste of match action once more.

Robins’ boss Pearson was pleased with what he saw from Benarous in the 6-2 win: “Ayman played in 45 minutes of a game here this week. It’s good to see him making some progress,” he said.

Despite the return to action, Pearson will not rush the young talent back into the first-team fold, which is very understandable given the nature of his injuries at such a young age.

The Robins have plenty of cover in the middle of the park, with the experienced heads of Matty James, Joe Williams and Andy King, as well as star man Alex Scott and new man Jason Knight.

The manager confirmed that Benarous is not in contention to feature against Preston North End on Saturday, or Oxford United next week, and didn’t give any time frame on when we might see the Bristol-born no.18 back in competitive action.

Pearson continued: “He’s had back-to-back ACL injuries and what was very encouraging to see him during the game he played with real freedom. I think that shows that he is not overthinking things and it’s really good to see him back. Hopefully, he will make the progressions.”