Rico Henry is in line to start Brentford’s FA Cup meeting with Plymouth this weekend, with the full-back at last set to make his long-awaited return from injury.
Henry has not played first-team football since suffering a serious knee injury against Newcastle in September 2023.
There have been several complications during the Englishman’s recovery and his absence will have stretched to almost 500 days by the time managerless Championship strugglers Argyle visit the Gtech Community Stadium for Saturday’s third round tie.
However, having come through an in-house friendly last weekend, the 27-year-old is now ready to make his comeback.
Brentford decided against fielding Henry in a ‘B’ team game against Charlton on Tuesday, but manager Thomas Frank is set to name him in his starting lineup this weekend.
"Rico will be involved in the game tomorrow - not only will he be involved, he will start," Frank said at his pre-match press conference on Friday.
"That is a big boost for him, us and the fans. He has been good in training - very aggressive as he always is. He played an in-house game and also a friendly with the B team.
"In general, he has looked good and ready to start. If he wasn't good enough, we wouldn't start him."
While Henry is not yet ready to play 90 minutes, his return will be a major boost for the Bees, who have struggled at full-back during his absence.
Scotland right-back Aaron Hickey has also not played since the early part of last term because of injury and Frank has this season resorted to using Keane Lewis-Potter at left-back.
The former Hull man, who is a winger by trade, has impressed and was this week rewarded with a contract extension, but Henry had been one of Brentford’s most consistent performers stretching back to their Championship days and had been pushing for an England call-up prior to his injury.
Frank added: “Rico is the only player that was here when I came more than eight years ago, so it is a good journey and story we have together.
“It is the first game, and we need to remember that when players have been out for more than a year, it takes time to get back to a consistent high level in games.
“You only get there by training consistently and playing some minutes, so it's good to have him back and I want to take it one step at a time.”
