Liverpool's Harvey Elliott has shown encouraging signs in his road to recovery from an ankle break at Leeds by posting an image of him on an exercise bike.
The 18-year-old Reds midfielder fractured his left ankle in a challenge by Leeds' Pascal Struijk that left him screaming in agony, just as the teenager was getting up and running in Jurgen Klopp's first team squad.
No timescale has been set for Elliott's return to action at Anfield but an image posted on his Instagram account on Tuesday is an important first checkpoint reached for the young midfielder.
Elliott captioned the Instagram post, which shows him smiling on the training mechanism: 'Step by step, day by day.'
The post came a few days after Elliott shared a snippet of him donning an oxygen mask for a photo showing the beginning of his rehabilitation programme.
The 18-year-old is expected to return to action before the end of this season, with Reds doctor Jim Moxon revealing the first responses from the medics on the Elland Road pitch were crucial to Elliott's recovery time.
Moxon said: 'We were able to reduce the dislocation immediately on the pitch and Harvey had surgery to repair the fracture and ligaments damaged in the incident. The operation was a success so his comeback starts now.
'We won't put pressure on him by setting a specific timeframe beyond being able to say with confidence we expect him to feature again later in the season following our rehab programme.'
Elliott was just getting into his stride at Anfield after impressing Klopp in pre-season, which prompted the Reds to not strive for a midfield replacement for Gini Wijnaldum, who departed for PSG over the summer.
The 18-year-old had spent the last two years in Liverpool's academy after joining from Fulham, but an excellent loan spell at Blackburn Rovers last term saw him rise to prominence in the professional game.
Elliott started his first Premier League match of the season for the Reds against Burnley and was then handed a shock chance from the off against title rivals Chelsea on August 28.
However, his first match after the September international break saw Elliott struck down on 63 minutes during the Leeds clash, which has threatened his continued involvement for the Reds this season.