According to reports in the sports pages of the national media Jay Rodriguez could yet play a part in this season.

Jay Rodriguez is stepping up his training programme at Staplewood and is targeting a return to first team action in March according to a story in the Daily Mail today, of course this could be just paper talk but the story has to come from somewhere even if it is only Rodriguez agent trying to drum up interest in his client.

Ronald Koeman recently played down reports of J Rod returning this season.

Koeman said last week: 'He's a very good player but we don't put pressure on him. He has to be fully fit. If that's at the end of the season then I'm pleased, but if not then next season.
'For me the fitness of the player is more important than the position in the table.'

Many took that as a declaration that the player would play no part this season, but a closer look at those words suggests that Koeman is only commenting that he will only play Rodriguez if he gets fully fit rather than suggesting that he wont be.

Now according to the Mail club doctors have given him the Ok to return to full training and that the player himself has targeted March as when he will be ready to return to Premier league action, although whether that is early or later in that month is not clarified.

Certainly Rodriguez would give a massive boost to the Saints firepower just at the right time and it would be an advantage that none of our rivals would hav, if Saints can keep up the pressure the longer we go still in the top four then the stronger we will become.e

Photo: Action Images

Hulk_Wogan added 16:18 - Feb 16 The problem is; do you play him instead of Mane, Elia, Tadic? Fair enough, Tadic hasn't been at his best for a while but I'd still put him in ahead of an out of practice Rodriguez. Even more so when you consider that we have no idea how much he'll be able to recover from that injury, whether he'll still have that pace and directness. He's not cut out to play up front on his own so he's not going to replace Pelle either. I'm not sure I can see where he fits in this team even if he is 100% recovered.

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arthurfane added 18:48 - Feb 16 I disagree - I think he IS cut out to play upfront on his own. He's still young and can learn. I'd like to see him start on the bench when he's recovering match fitness, giving Pelle some competition, and another option from the bench. When he's back to full fitness then we have two potentially quality out and out forwards (3 with Long) providing great competition and quality.

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WestSussexSaint added 19:35 - Feb 16 Agree with arthurfane. I see JRod as the perfect replacement off the bench for Pelle as he gets up to match fitness. This has the added bonus of giving Pelle a much needed rest but also a reminder that he needs to perform if he is to keep his place. If Jay can return to the form of last season then it will just be what the side needs in the run in as we have struggled for goals in recent weeks.

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IanRC added 22:47 - Feb 16 Jay back soon would be very good news IMO. If he can recover even a fraction of his form last season he could be terrific off the bench against tiring defenses.
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