Ayman Benarous featured for Bristol City U21s as they drew 2-2 with Millwall in a behind-closed-doors clash at the Robins High Performance CentreAyman Benarous featured for Bristol City U21s in their draw with Millwall(Image: Photo by Rogan/Bristol City)

Liam Manning is hopeful Bristol City can get Ayman Benarous “fit until the end of the season” after the attacking midfielder returned from his latest injury setback in an Under-21s fixture against Millwall.

The 21-year-old hasn’t made a first-team appearance for the Robins in two years having suffered successive ACL injuries. Although he managed to feature in pre-season in 2023, the first of a string of hamstring issues forced him back onto the sidelines.

Last summer, Benarous was again able to take part in Manning’s side’s pre-season preparations, even featuring in a friendly against Exeter City at the HPC. However, the attacking midfielder then suffered a new setback while playing for the Young Robins against Sheffield Wednesday in August which has sidelined him for the last eight months.

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Having built up his fitness in recent weeks, the young midfielder was able to feature as a second-half substitute as City’s Under-21s drew 2-2 with Millwall in a behind-closed-doors clash on Wednesday afternoon. Although Manning’s work with the 21-year-old so far has been limited by injury, he was quick to praise him for the mental and physical strength he’s shown to return.

“Yeah I am, he’s a great lad,” the head coach said to Bristol Live when asked if he was delighted to see Benarous in action again. “Unfortunately in my time here I haven’t had the opportunity to see him for any sustained period or have him around it really.

“The resilience, the toughness he’s shown to repeatedly come back from the injuries he’s had speaks volumes about him as a person and a professional. It was great for him to get some minutes yesterday.”

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In a social media post after Wednesday afternoon’s game, Benarous confirmed that he had undergone an operation which “God willing” will hopefully put an end to the recurring injury issues the midfielder has been forced to contend with over the last three years.

Although Manning was unable to shed any further light on exactly what that operation entailed, admitting there were likely others at the club more qualified to explain the process, he hopes that the 21-year-old will benefit from one or two changes made at the HPC over the course of the campaign so far.

“I’ll leave that to the medical experts, to be honest,” Manning said. “It’s one of those, he’s had a few injuries in the same area so then the quality of muscle and the knock-on effect of that is the higher risk.

Ayman Benarous in action for Bristol City Under-21s vs Millwall(Image: Photo by Rogan/Bristol City)

“We change stuff around here behind the scenes with the medical, the sports science, there’s been quite a change over the course of the season.

“Hopefully, he’s one that will have benefited from it and hopefully, we can get him fit until the end of the season.”

When Sinclair Armstrong suffered a hamstring injury in the wake of the Robins’ draw with Sunderland back in December, Manning suggested he and his staff were making alterations to the way they worked “in-house” in a bid to aid the playing squad’s physical fitness. At the time, the head coach confessed that both he and supporters may not see the impact of such changes immediately because of the differences between the current and previous methods employed over the last few years.

However, the City boss feels the effect of those alterations is beginning to become more obvious, not only with the speed in which they’ve helped George Tanner and others to recover from injury but also with the sheer amount of football both Zak Vyner and Jason Knight have been able to play so far this season.

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“I’d like to think so,” the City boss replied when asked if the impact of the changes was now becoming visible. “It’s part of it, right? I think when you change a programme, you don’t see the results instantly, especially with some of the work that’s going on, it’s so ingrained in the lads that I think it can take time.

“I’ve been pleased with how we’ve looked physically and how we’ve performed in games. Naturally now, we are light as a squad, we don’t carry big numbers so we are stretched from that point of view. When you actually look at, touch wood, the injury rate we’ve had but also what we’ve asked the lads to do, you only have to look at Knighty and Zak’s minutes to see that.

“I’m sure individually players have played a much greater number of minutes than some other players in the league but there are strengths and weaknesses and pros and cons to that.”

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