Tim Weah won’t feature in Lille’s upcoming Ligue 1 match against Strasbourg, but the young American’s long-awaited return to action is close.
Lille manager Christoph Galtier confirmed on Friday that Weah will miss Saturday’s match against Strasbourg despite successfully navigating his first full week of training since returning from injury.
“Everyone is operational except Saad Agouzoul and Timothy Weah, who will finish his first full week tomorrow with us,” Galtier said on Friday. “As a precaution, I prefer to wait until (Weah) has more consistent sessions.”
Galtier went on to confirm that the plan at the moment will be to have Weah train for another week before being re-evaluated. That timetable will force Weah to miss Lille’s next three matches, with the team’s match against Marseille on February 15 being a match that could see his return.
Weah has been out of action since August with a bad hamstring tear he suffered in training shortly after the second match of the current Ligue 1 season. The injury sidelined him for five months, but he returned to training after the start of the new year.
The injury came at a brutal moment for Weah, who was riding the momentum of an impressive showing at the Under-20 World Cup last summer, helping the Americans reach the World Cup quarterfinals. Weah’s performance at the Under-20 World Cup helped facilitate his $12 million transfer from Paris Saint Germain to Lille.
Weah started the first match of the season for Lille, but came off the bench for a seven-minute cameo in the team’s second match before suffering a torn hamstring in training.
The 19-year-old has also seen his national team aspirations put on hold by the injury, but his looming return could put him in contention for a role in Olympic qualifying in March, or a call-up to the full USMNT for its March friendlies against the Netherlands and Wales.
Weah earned eight caps for the USMNT in 2018, but has yet to take part in a camp under Gregg Berhalter, who confirmed that Weah was in line for a call-up to the USMNT’s September friendlies against Mexico and Uruguay before suffering the hamstring injury.
Glad he’s close to returning.
If Weah gets back to seeing minutes in Feb. and is not released for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, I hope he gets a call for the March Sr. NT friendlies. Looking forward to the future with Weah, & Reyna as part of our attacking options. Should take some of the focus off of Pulisic, allowing him to more space & time.
Thanks for the update Ives, was wondering when he will return. He was in great from before his injury, hopefully he can return to it.
Great form? Weah looked lost in his two appearances for Lille before his injury.