Besic to resume training in two weeks, Joel holds his starting spot

Ronald Koeman updated everyone on the health status of midfielder Muhamed Besic who has been out since the beginning of August after undergoing knee surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

The manager was speaking during his pre-match press conference ahead of Everton’s game against AFC Bournemouth tomorrow.

“Mo is doing well. In two weeks he can be involved in parts of the training session, and he is working hard.

“I appreciate what he is doing, how he is doing it, his behaviour to come back as soon as possible. That is really good.

“He will be back in two-three weeks to do parts of the session.”

He was asked if Joe Robles was the team’s long-term number 1 -

“We started the season with the decision to make Maarten Stekelenburg the starting goalkeeper. Sometimes in life and in football, things can change. Maarten was really unlucky with his injury, and it wasn’t just 1-2 weeks, it was 5-7 games.

“In that time Joel did really well, and there was no reason to change the first eleven after the City game, and at the moment there is no reason to change now.

That’s football, sometimes it’s nice for Joel, and sometimes it’s difficult and disappointing for Maarten. I like to be fair in everything, and that’s also difficult for the manager, but there’s no reason to change.”

When asked about the competitive situation in the midfield with Idrissa Gueye coming back from the Africa Cup of Nations, here’s what he had to say.

“Yes, a little bit. First of all Gana played the Africa Cup, and Idrissa was one of the key players before that. He came back and saw some new faces in the team.

“We have five really good midfield players. It’s always a big, tough decision for the manager, but I like to have it and now I can really look at the details of what we need for tomorrow, and put the best midfield on the pitch.”

When pressed about if he’d made his decision on who would play, he laughed -

“Yes. I take my decision very quickly, I don’t have doubts about it.”