James Justin is pushing to make a quick recovery from injury and return to the Leicester City squad at West Ham this Thursday.
The right-back was absent for City's 4-0 defeat to Brentford on Friday after hobbling out of the loss to Arsenal a week earlier.
During the defeat to the Gunners, Justin had been seen with a protective boot on his right leg and van Nistelrooy had said he would be out for “weeks”, but not more.
Now, ahead of a trip to the London Stadium, Justin is fighting to be fit and could be a contender to take back his spot from Woyo Coulibaly.
The £3m January signing made his full debut for the club against Brentford but was taken off at half-time.
“We’re doing everything we can to get him for Thursday,” van Nistelrooy said at his press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
“He’s still a work in progress. There’s no news yet but we’re doing everything we can.”
The City manager said there were no further injury concerns, which would mean, if Justin is declared fit, that they’re missing just two senior players.
Ricardo Pereira (hamstring) is back in training but needs more time before he can be considered available for selection having been out for three months. Abdul Fatawu (knee) is out for the season.
Sixteen-year-old prospect Jake Evans, who has been scoring for fun for the Under-21s, could possibly have been in contention too, but is currently nursing a small injury.
Evans missed the development squad’s 2-1 victory over Derby in Premier League 2 on Monday night, with Logan Briggs at the double to secure a fourth straight victory for the Under-21s in all competitions.
