Hammers manager David Moyes says he would be amazed if injured West Ham star Angelo Ogbonna played again this season.
Ogbonna has been out of action since suffering an ACL injury against Liverpool in November.
The Italian West Ham favourite required surgery on the serious injury and was all but ruled out for the season.
Oggy has been spotted at recent games including on the pitch celebrating with his Hammers teammates after the 3-0 win away at Lyon.
There has been increased speculation that the centre-back may make something of a surprise early comeback during West Ham’s vital run-in.
That would have been a major boost with West Ham fighting for a top six spot in the Premier League and with a potential Europa League final on the horizon.
But Moyes says he would be amazed if West Ham star Ogbonna played again this season.
The Scot made the admission in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Europa League semi-final first against Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday night.
“Angelo Ogbonna’s back, he only came back this week,” Moyes said in his pre-match presser (whufc.com).
“When I say ‘back’ I mean back in the building, so I would be amazed if he played before the end of the season.”
Ogbonna, who turns 34 next month, is out of contract at West Ham this summer.
But he is expected to sign a new one-year deal with the Hammers after co-owner David Sullivan pledged to offer him an extension regardless of his injury recovery timescale.
West Ham were absolutely flying before Ogbonna’s injury. Victory over Liverpool that day lifted the Hammers up to third in the Premier League.
But that injury and a momentum-killing November international break proved to be something of a tipping point for West Ham’s shallow squad.
Moyes has struggled to get a consistent run of results out of his side domestically since then.
And the workload on the players has been exacerbated by West Ham’s amazing progress in the Europa League.
Having Ogbonna back would have been great. But it is more important he comes back when it is right for him and to make sure he is available next season – hopefully for another European campaign with West Ham.