AFC Bournemouth assistant Jason Tindall believes striker Tokelo Rantie could be fit in time for the Africa Cup of Nations.
The South African suffered a partial shoulder dislocation in the 2-2 draw with Ipswich on November 22. However, Rantie is responding well to treatment and the front man is already putting in work on the training pitches as he bids to return to action.
The African Cup of Nations begins on January 17 in Equatorial Guinea.
Tindall told the Cherries website: “TK is making great strides. He’s out on the training field every day doing fitness work and ball work.
“He isn’t doing any contact work just yet because we feel it’s a little bit too soon for that and we don’t want to set him back any more than he already is.
“But in terms of how he’s progressing, he’s doing better than probably we thought and how he probably thought so we are hoping to have him back with us pretty soon.
“I said to him the other day, we are probably getting him fit now for the African Cup of Nations!
“As soon as he gets fit he will probably have to go away, but we are hoping to have him back just after Christmas.
“If we can get him back and get him some game time then that would be great because he was looking really sharp before he unfortunately injured his shoulder.”
Rantie’s teammates went out of the Capital One Cup at the quarter-final stage on Wednesday night, but were far from disgraced against Premier League royalty Liverpool.
