Arsenal youngster Omar Rekik is on the road to recovery.
Since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations at the end of January and seeing a potential loan move to Stoke City fall through on transfer deadline day, the 20-year-old has only featured once for the Gunners Under-23's.
That came in last month's Premier League Cup tie against West Brom as the Arsenal youngsters suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat.
Although Rekik didn't complete the full 90 minutes as he was replaced Mazeed Ogungbo during the half-time interval and has since missed Premier League two games against Leicester City, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.
It would appear that the reason for the defender's absence has been injury related.
But the good news is that Rekik could be closing in on a return to action after posting an update via his Instagram Stories of him doing some running on an AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill.
As per Sports Medical, this unique piece of technology allows players to rehabilitate with less pain while reducing the risk of further injury and that all but confirms Rekik picked up some sort of knock against the Baggies.
The fact that the defender gave two thumbs up whilst running would suggest that his rehab is going smoothly and hopefully he will be back out on the pitch sooner rather than later.
And there's an incentive for Rekik to step up his recovery.
Following Calum Chambers' surprise exit and Pablo Mari joining Udinese on loan during the January transfer window, there's a chance Rekik could get a first-team call-up before the end of the season.
He did make his senior debut in a pre-season friendly against Hibernian, has often trained with the first-team and has even played alongside Gabriel Magalhaes this season - albeit in a Under-23's game against Spurs as the Brazilian was building up his match fitness.
Furthermore, the 20-year-old has been capped three times at international level and made two appearances for Tunisia at the Africa Cup of Nations before being eliminated by Burkina Faso at the quarter-final stage.
An arrival from Hertha Berlin last January, in his own words, Rekik's style of play fits perfectly with Mikel Arteta's philosophy.
"My style of play? I’m a central defender and I like to play with the ball, I like to play out from the back, and I think this is also the structure of the club," he told Arsenal.com. "It fits perfectly."
With that said, Arsenal's business in the January transfer window has already created first-team opportunities for some of the club's most promising youngsters and Rekik could be next to benefit.
Omari Hutchinson, Zach Awe and Zak Swanson have been included in matchday squads over the past month - with the latter pair in line for another call-up against Watford on Sunday.
Should Takehiro Tomiyasu's injury problems persist or the Gunners suffer a further defensive crisis then a fully-fit Rekik could be closer to receiving his first competitive senior call-up.
