Chicago Fire striker wrapped in cotton wool

The lingering effects of a knee sprain have tempered David Accam's torrid start to the 2016 MLS season, and Chicago Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic has every intention of ensuring the Ghanaian winger is fully recovered before re-inserting him into the team.

The Ghana international got injured while training with his club ahead of the Fifa international break, leading to his withdrawal from Ghana’s squad that faced Mozambique in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

“I’ve already said how important he is for our team, and that’s why we’re very careful with the progress and his recovery,” Paunovic said.

“There are two parts that mark the pace of his recovery, those are the nature (of the injury) and himself. He has to feel comfortable to start training with the team.

“When he doesn’t have any pain, it will be ready, but I don’t think we’re in that phase.

“As I said before, being so important, it’s tricky because we want him as soon as possible, but we also don’t want to push him to make the injury worse.

“So far, he’s improving well, but still, we are not sure he is going to be ready for this game [against Montreal Impact on Saturday].”