USA midfielder Tyler Adams back in RB Leipzig training
Tyler Adams has returned to first-team training at RB Leipzig after spending over five months on and off the sidelines through injury.
Adams missed five of Leipzig's final six games of the 2018/19 Bundesliga season with a troublesome groin strain sustained shortly after playing his part in a 5-0 demolition on Hertha Berlin on 30 March 2019.
He returned to face Bayern Munich in the DFB Cup final on 25 May, but re-aggravated the problem and withdrew from the USMNT's 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup squad as a result.
The 20-year-old was on the cusp of making his comeback at the start of the new Bundesliga campaign, when a foot injury set him back even further.
On Tuesday, video footage emerged on Twitter of the midfielder taking part in team training at Leipzig.
Adams was one of the standout performers of the 2018/19 Rückrunde, having made the switch to Leipzig from Major League Soccer's NY Red Bulls in January.
The 10-time US international went unbeaten in his first nine Bundesliga appearances before missing Matchdays 28-33 because of injury. He returned in the final-day loss to Werder Bremen, ending the campaign with two assists and an impressive average of 86 per cent for passes completed.
Given his various set-backs in recent months, however, Adams is expected to be afforded all the time he needs to rediscover full-match fitness before adding to his 10 appearances in the German top flight and playing under Julian Nagelsmann for the first time.
In his absence, Nagelsmann has used the likes of Diego Demme, Kevin Kampl and Konrad Laimer in the American's preferred defensive midfield position.
Watch: Tyler Adams on his first impressions of RB Leipzig
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Second-placed Leipzig trail leaders Borussia Mönchengladbach by just one point after 13 matches, and recently booked their place in the UEFA Champions League last 16 for the first time in their history.
Nagelsmann welcomes former club Hoffenheim to the Red Bull Arena this weekend, before taking his side to France to face Lyon in a match that will determine who finishes top of Champions League Group G (10 December).
Games against Fortuna Düsseldorf (a), Borussia Dortmund (a) and Augsburg (h) complete the Saxony outfit’s 2019 schedule prior to the Bundesliga's traditional winter break. They resume their title pursuit with a home game against promoted Union Berlin on 18 January 2020, and also have a DFB Cup third-round meeting against Bundesliga rivals Eintracht Frankfurt (a) to look forward to in the new year.
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