£3m Portsmouth favourite provides encouraging fitness update amid Fratton Park injury crisis
Marko Milovanovic has scored three goals for Pompey since his £3m summer arrival.
Marko Milovanovic has admitted he’s getting better every week in an encouraging fitness update ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Wolves.
And the £3m striker has revealed how he’s working towards reaching full fitness after recovering from his early-season injury concerns.
It’s been an action-packed start to life at Fratton Park for the frontman after his multi-million pound capture from UD Almeria in July.
Milovanovic, who is also known as Marezi, has netted three Championship goals in eight appearances, but is yet to register a 90-minute display since his switch.
Having missed a significant part of pre-season to complete his Fratton Park move, John Mousinho eased the Serbian into action as he built up his match fitness.
The minor calf issue forced Marezi to miss the Blues’ final two matches against Charlton Athletic and Blackburn Rovers prior to the three-week international break
However, his brief spell on the sidelines came to a close against Southampton when he appeared off the bench as Pompey looked to salvage a point in the south-coast derby.
Pompey favourite provides key fitness update
Successive starts against Sheffield United in midweek and against Norwich City on Saturday followed for the striker, which saw him net the only goal in their 1-0 triumph at Carrow Road.
As the Blues continue to build up the summer arrival’s fitness, Marezi insists he’s getting closer to being able to complete a full 90 minutes.
He told The News: It’s exactly what it is. I’m getting better every week.
‘Now I had small injury but I’m getting better.
‘(Since the setback) I’ve played three games in seven days so that’s the good thing so I just need to recover and stay healthy and fit to help the team.
‘Resting and training but we can continue to train. Yeah that’s it just managing that (his fitness).
‘The way I play I try to make a lot of runs, fight defenders every game so it’s normal to get subbed and get someone fresh.’
Pompey injury latest ahead of Wolves
News of Marezi’s encouraging fitness boost comes amid a fresh injury blow to Colby Bishop.
‘So Colby just felt his knee in the warm-up. He wasn't quite right,’ said the head coach in his post-match interview with BBC Solent.
‘Whenever Colby feels anything and declares himself unfit to play, you know he’s just not thinking: ‘I’m going to pretend myself!
‘Colby plays through absolutely everything, so that’s why Colby didn’t come on.’
Thomas Waddingham, meanwhile, has been pencilled in to complete his long-awaited comeback next week against Millwall after undergoing ankle surgery in August.
Keshi Anderson, Franco Umeh, Conor Shaughnessy, Benjy Arthur, John Swift, Josh Murphy, Luke Brooke-Smith and Connor Ogilvie all sidelined.