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West Ham defender Winston Reid hasn't been seen on the pitch since the Hammers third pre-season game of the summer and was not in the squad for the opening Premier League game of the season either.

It has led to some rumours that the Kiwi defender has suffered a setback as he bids to regain fitness following a nightmare 14 months which saw the centre back undergo two knee surgeries.

He picked up his first problem in the latter stages of the 2017/18 season when he was injured making a tackle in the box away at Swansea City. He was also knocked unconscious in that incident.

He missed the remainder of the season but returned to training ahead of the 2018/19 season.

But he re-aggravated the problem in pre-season training while at a camp in Austria in a bid to prove his fitness to then new manager Manuel Pellegrini but as a result, missed the entire 2018/19 season.

In total, Reid was injured for 495 days between when he was first stretchered off the pitch in Wales and then finally making his long-awaited comeback to action.

That came against Altach last month in the Hammers first pre-season game of the summer when the centre back appeared for the second half. Reid had proved his fitness and was then taken to the Premier League Asia Trophy in China as part of the 23-man squad.

(Image: (Photo by Avril Husband/West Ham United via Getty Images)

The 31-year-old played against Man City and Newcastle in Nanjing and Shanghai, getting valuable minutes under his belt in the process.

But it has all gone quiet since then.

West Ham signed 18-year-old centre back Goncalo Cardoso in the summer transfer window. While one for the future quite clearly, he's been brought in as a fourth-choice centre back behind Issa Diop, Fabian Balbuena and Angelo Ogbonna.

But what about Reid? Where is he? He's still got two years remaining on his current deal in east London. We haven't seen pictures of him in training since the team were in China, Reid is not the most prolific of social media users either so information is thin on the ground.

However, football.london understands that West Ham's second longest-serving player is still training with the first team, he has not suffered any new injuries to his knee and he is available to play.

So, why isn't he?

The Hammers, absolutely understandably, are playing it incredibly carefully with the player who has endured a terrible time recently with injuries and that extends to his training.

Reid is taking part in group sessions when things like tactics are being worked on, defending set pieces and the like.

(Image: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images for Premier League)

However, when it comes to his fitness regime, the 31-year-old can sometimes be found working away from the main group. He is on a specific training plan and in order to control the load of training, will do so on his own with the medical team at Rush Green.

For example, Reid trained on his own on Monday but will then be a part of the main session on Tuesday.

There is no timetable for a return to first team action for Reid just yet. Much like Andriy Yarmolenko was left out of the squad for the loss to Manchester City on Saturday, the club is simply taking it carefully with their players who missed most or all of last season.

The consensus at West Ham is that Reid is certainly heading in the right direction, but they and the player have just got to be patient.