Lyon attacker Nabil Fekir expects to return to his best in September -- a full year after suffering a cruciate ligament injury.
Fekir, 23, hurt his knee playing for France in a friendly against Portugal before returning after surgery to make five substitute appearances at the end of last season.
The 2014-15 Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year now feels in good shape ahead of the new campaign.
"Everything is going well," he told L'Equipe. "Better than at the end of last season. I feel little niggles from time to time. But I spoke about them with the surgeon and he told me that it was normal. I hope that it will clear up over time.
"The more time goes by, the more I feel that the knee is getting better and better."
Lyon manager Bruno Genesio expects Fekir to hit top form soon and the player agrees.
"I think that I'm at 70-80 percent," he said. "August will allow me to work well with the first Ligue 1 matches and the Trophee des Champions.
"I think that by the end of August, start of September, I'll be good."
Fekir said the injury had helped him to put life into perspective and to realise how lucky he is to be a professional footballer.
But the Lyon academy graduate also promised that he had lost none of his ambition.
"I think that you can't imagine to what point I'm ambitious," Fekir said. "It's even stronger than before. When you're injured, you want to come back and prove that you've lost nothing -- that you're even better."