BLACKBURN Rovers' England defender Graeme Le Saux could be back in action by November.

Le Saux is bang on schedule for a Premiership comeback and this week he stepped up his recovery at England's Bisham Abbey HQ after new England chief Glenn Hoddle invited him to join his squad.

Le Saux's injury-enforced absence from the international fold this year was a major blow to Terry Venables' Euro 96 plans, the Blackburn defender having proved himself an integral part of the former coach's thinking.

And while the Ewood Park star is still a couple of months away from full fitness after breaking his leg against Middlesbrough last December he will definitely feature in Ray Harford's plans before Christmas.

His recovery was clear as he took part in light training with the rest of the England party.

"Everything's going really well, far better than I thought it would and it was great of Glenn to invite me down," said Le Saux, who paid tribute to Blackburn and England physio Alan Smith for his part in his recovery.

"Of course I can still only do so much. That means training two or three days a week, taking rests when I need them, and I've got to be careful. "I can do a bit of running, but I know that if I trip up it could set me back a month or more, so I'm not allowed any contact stuff yet.

"But I'm ahead of schedule. When it happened last year the doctors were talking about December, but I think I could make it a month ahead of that."

Good news for both Blackburn boss Ray Harford and Hoddle, and Le Saux admitted the call from Hoddle to travel down to Buckinghamshire had been a boost.

"I was really pleased when Glenn rang me to ask me down, because it's hard if you're on your own in the same environment for seven days a week.

"So far the recovery has been everything I could ask for, although I've had to put in a lot of hard work over the summer to reach this stage.

"I've never had an injury like this before - and I hope I don't have one ever again - but I can see the progression and as long as that's going on I'm going to be happy."

Hoddle admitted he was as pleased as Le Saux to see the 27-year-old re-integrated into the international ranks."

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