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Fit again McCarthy raring to go

James McCarthy says he is delighted to be back on the field for Everton and is looking forward to putting his injury woes behind him over the remainder of the season.

The 24 year-old is in line to make a third successive appearance for the Blues against Young Boys having ended a frustrating five-week spell on the sidelines by playing the full 90 minutes of the Merseyside derby and then another 45 at Chelsea last week.

A recurrent hamstring problem has severely disrupted his second season at Everton following his £13m move from Wigan Athletic and kept him out of 14 matches but McCarthy is confident that he is in the clear now and can concentrate on helping the Blues back to winning ways, starting with a win in tomorrow's first leg in the Europa League round of 32.

"I'm looking forward to the game tomorrow night," the Irish international said at a press conference in Switzerland today. "Obviously, it's going to be difficult. The gaffer's showed us clips of the way Young Boys play and it's not an easy place to come but we'll look forward to the challenge and also to getting them back to Goodison."

Asked about his fitness after so long out, McCarthy told reporters: "So far so good. I've felt good in the last couple of games and, obviously, I've been training all week. It's just good to be back training with the lads and to be back involved with the games.

"To be honest, I think I've been looked after well off the pitch and we've changed a few things in training. The gaffer's been looking after me. I've not been training too much; he's been pulling me out to let me do some work in the gym. I'm just delighted to be back and involved and long may it continue."

While he missed a couple of games early on the season, including the Europa League trip to Krasnodar when he was withdrawn from the travelling party because of what his manager described as "quad muscle fatigue", the midfielder returned to the side two matches later and then soldiered through a "minor" issue with his hamstring until the away game at Wolfsburg. He had to be taken off just half an hour into that game having suffered a more serious problem that would dog him for most of the next three months and keep him from playing at all between late December and earlier this month.

“It was always going to be a long recovery," the Irish international said in the Liverpool Echo. “I wanted to get back as soon as I could and it got delayed another couple of weeks and that is part and parcel of football.

"[Now] it is just about getting me going and getting my fitness going [and] I'm just delighted to be back and I don't want to break down again. The gaffer will know what he's doing with me, he'll take it day-by-day and not get too carried away.

“I want to keep working hard and get back to the fitness I had when I broke down. It's just good to be back with the team, you miss that when you're injured — you're in the gym with the physio. It's good to be back involved with each and every one of the players.”

 

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