?Bayern Munich defender Lucas Hernandez is hoping to make his return from injury by the end of January.
Die Roten paid €80m to bring the Frenchman to Bavaria in the summer, ending his 12-year association with Atletico Madrid. However, he hasn’t featured for the Germans since a 3-2 victory at Olympiacos on 22 October, with Hernandez damaging ankle ligaments during the win in Greece.
At present, the 23-year-old – who is comfortable at fullback, as well as in central defence – has missed eight ?Bayern games due to the injury he sustained at Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, having already sat out two matches earlier in the season after bruising his knee.
Discussing his recovery process, Hernandez explained (as quoted by ?Bavarian Football Works): “I’m getting better and better, I’m still about ten days away from rejoining the team, then I would like to get back in slowly.
“My goal is to participate fully in the preparations for the second half of the season and attack with the team by mid to late January.”
Hernandez also revealed his thoughts on Bayern’s decision to appoint Hans-Dieter Flick as interim manager following Niko Kovac’s sacking.
When asked if Flick should be a contender for the job on a full-time basis, the former ?Atletico star said: “Why shouldn’t he stay? He’s doing good work and we are delivering good performances under him. If it continues that way, I can definitely imagine that he stays until the end of the season.”
Munich have lost three of their matches since Hernandez hobbled off at Olympiacos, including a 5-1 trouncing away to Eintracht Frankurt, as well as a 2-1 home defeat to ten-man Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
The champions are currently fourth in the ?Bundesliga, four points behind leaders Borussia Monchengladbach, who they play in their next fixture.
They follow that up with their final game of the ?Champions League group stages as Flick’s recruits welcome ?Tottenham Hotspur to the Allianz Arena.
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