THE POPULAR Mali international has endured an injury nightmare over the past three years and is currently battling his way back from a ruptured Achilles tendon.

A powerful striker who played a key role in the rise of the Potters to the Premier League, he was initially struck down by a serious knee ligament problem in 2008/09.

He bounced back from that injury lay-off to feature regularly in the second half of the 2009/10 campaign, helping the Potters to secure their Premier League status. 

But his hopes of building on that at the start of last season were wrecked when he snapped the Achilles tendon in the first home game of the campaign against Tottenham Hotspur just a few minutes after being introduced as a second half substitute.

An end to the injury heartache seemed in sight when he returned to action in the Reserves in February 2011, but days later he suffered a recurrence of the injury in training.

Another comeback began and he stepped up his fitness with an hour for the Reserves at the end of September before being an unused substitute against his former side Swansea City just days later.

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