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Melbourne Victory captain Carl Valeri is back in the first-team fold after four months away from the A-League with inflammation affecting his brain.
The midfielder will travel with the Victory squad to Wellington for Saturday’s A-League penultimate round clash with Wellington Phoenix.
He’s unlikely to be handed a significant match-day role but Valeri, 31, says he’s delighted to be back training after developing the serious condition.
At his worst, Valeri struggled to even walk.
Coach Kevin Muscat was so concerned by Valeri’s deterioration that he ruled out his skipper for the entire season back in February.
Valeri said it was the intervention he needed to make a proper recovery.
“A few months ago we didn’t know what was going to happen,” he said.
“Musky saw me pushing myself when I wasn’t quite ready. He pulled me aside and that was an eye-opener.
“It’s not often you get a coach that calls you in and says `just have the season off, we’re worried about you’.
“He wasn’t talking to me as a coach, he was talking to me as a friend.
“There was no pressure on me and look where I am. I’m on the verge of coming back in a season where I didn’t think I’d play again.
“I’ve got a lot of thank yous to give … I’m very well looked after and I’m very thankful and grateful.”
Those thank yous extend to his teammates, who wore tribute shirts while warming up for December’s derby with Melbourne City.
“I didn’t expect that. I didn’t get rattled very easily but that did rattle me,” he said.
Victory football boss Paul Trimboli said a lack of recurrence of the inflammation issue over a month of training gave the club confidence to return Valeri to the first-team.
He will be part of a 17-man travelling party and may yet not feature in the match.
Valeri will also miss next week’s Asian Champions League trip to Korea to face Suwon Bluewings, making the final-round home match with Adelaide United his best chance for a strong hit-out to show whether he can play a significant role during the finals.
It has become accepted A-League wisdom the side’s troubles this campaign coincided with Valeri’s departure from the squad.
The midfielder was the only man to play every match of their 2014/15 championship-winning season and played in four matches for three wins at the start of this campaign.
While he’ll be doing everything he can to help Victory defend their championship status, it’s not what pushed him to return to on-field action.
“It’d be great to win back-to-back championships. I think the club deserves it but we’ve got to prove it on the football pitch,” he said.
“But it wasn’t what drove me to be back. It was purely being healthy again and being fit.”
VICTORY AND VALERI
Melbourne Victory’s A-League record with and without Carl Valeri since the start of their championship-winning season.
With Valeri
P:33 W:20 D:8 L:5 – 60 per cent win rate
Without Valeri
P:21 W:7 D:7 L:7 – 33 per cent win rate
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