Falkirk manager Peter Houston admits he hopes defender Peter Grant will be available for action in September.
The commanding centre-half is currently recovering after sustaining a cruciate knee ligament injury in January.
Grant is being put through his rehabilitation at English Championship side Fulham, where his dad – Peter senior – is the club’s Under-21s manager.
Although Houston plans to welcome the 22-year-old back for pre-season training, he expects that Grant will miss the opening two months of the campaign.
Houston said: “It will probably be September before Peter’s playing again.
“He’s coming on great and he’s in a good place in regards to getting back quicker than he would be if he was here.
“I don’t mean that in any disrespect to Falkirk. They have got the machines and all this stuff, he’s also getting stuff one-to-one.
“He’s looking brilliant. His body fat has gone right down so he’s not down there messing about.
“He’s got all the machines he can go and work on and he’s running on grass already.
“He’ll be here first day of pre-season and he’ll train with us but it might be September before he’s physically ready. I’m not going to rush him if he’s been out this length of time.
“He’s another guy who was a big loss to us at that centre-back position.
“If things had carried on, in my opinion, he easily could have been a contender for Championship player of the year. He was different class for us.”
