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Taylor recovery nearing completion

Steven Taylor has been working hard to return to full fitness © PA Photos

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Newcastle defender Steven Taylor remains on course for a pre-season return, as the 26-year-old enters the final phase of his rehabilitation from Achilles surgery.

Taylor ruptured his Achilles in Newcastle's defeat to Chelsea last December and missed the remainder of the season as a result.

Now, seven months later, Taylor is nearing the completion of his recovery and is optimistic he will be fully fit and ready for the start of pre-season training which commences in less than a fortnight.

"Fitness-wise, I've just been maintaining my work rate and sticking to the programme that Derek Wright, Dave Henderson and Michael Harding [Newcastle United physios] have set for me," Taylor told the club's official website.

"I'm feeling good at the moment and I've just got to keep on going. I'm going away with Derek for five days so we can work on my fitness in the heat, and I've no doubt he'll run me into the ground.

"We're into the final stages now and I'll be happy once all this running is finished. He trains me like he's Rocky Balboa's trainer and only lets me stop once I've collapsed on the floor!

"But seriously, Derek and the rest of the team have been brilliant with me so far this summer and I owe them an awful lot.

"In footballing terms, we're into added-on time with the injury now and I just have to keep going. It's sometimes like a 93rd minute run back from a corner, but you know you have to do it.

"Hopefully, come pre-season, I'm going to be a little bit ahead of the rest of the lads fitness-wise. I won't push myself too hard the first week back, but I will be like an excited kid in a sweet shop because I've missed playing so much."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.