Coyle eyes early Lee return

Lee Chung-yong: Working hard in his rehabilitation and could feature this season

Owen Coyle is hopeful that Lee Chung-yong will return to action this season and says he could even be back by March.

The Bolton winger sustained a double fracture to his lower right leg in a pre-season game against Newport County and it was initially feared that he would miss the entire 2011/12 campaign.

However, he has been working hard in his rehabilitation and Coyle has revealed that he is currently ahead of schedule.

Having returned to South Korea over the summer to spend time with his international team's doctors, Lee is now back with Bolton and showing signs of progress.

Up in the air

Coyle is still not sure exactly when the 23-year-old may be available for selection again, but remains optimistic that he could feature for a couple of months this term.

"At this moment in time, he's doing better than I would have envisaged," Coyle told the Bolton News.

"I don't want to get ahead of myself but I don't think it will be as bad as we first thought - i.e. the whole season - but what part of it he comes back is still very much up in the air.

"We could get him back March, maybe, but he's certainly doing well."