Lamptey: Brighton & Hove Albion boss Potter delivers injury update on Ghana target

Brighton & Hove Albion defender Tariq Lamptey is making progress in his race for fitness for the new season, club boss Graham Potter has revealed.

The England U21 of Ghanaian descent has been out of action since sustaining a hamstring injury in December 2020, ruling him out of the second round of the Premier League.

He made a brief return to training when pre-season began but a setback has sent him to the treatment room again.

“He’s joined the group intermittently. He’s still doing his rehab, a slow few weeks, but has made good progress recently, so he has joined in a few sessions with the players,” Potter told pressmen on Thursday, Belfast Telegraph has reported.

“We’re hoping he’ll step that up. With a bit of luck, maybe after the international break we might see a bit more of Tariq.”

Brighton are set to face Burnley in their Premier League opener on Saturday.

After the first game, The Seagulls are billed to square off against Watford, Cardiff City and Everton before the international break.

“It’s a little bit slower than we would like and probably he would like, but with the nature of his surgery and the injury, we need to make sure that he’s right rather than putting any timescale on it,” Potter told the Athletic last month.

“He’s making progress but not as fast as we and he would like.

“It’s important that we just stay patient and do the right things for him, make sure we finish off this last stage of his rehab in a good way, because it’s not necessarily about being available for the first game, it’s about being available for as many games as he can in the season.”

The December injury was a massive blow to Lamptey who was hailed among the most exciting young talent in the Premier League last season during the first round.

He made 11 appearances for Brighton, starting in each of the matches, and scored his first professional goal in a 2-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur in November 2020.