Abou Diaby could make his Marseille debut in a month, according to the French club's coach Michel, as the injury-plagued midfielder battles his way back to full fitness.
Diaby, 29, moved to the Stade Velodrome as a free agent after ending a nine-year association with Arsenal that was marred by a succession of serious injury problems.
A recent study by Sky Sports showed that Diaby spent over 2,000 days out injured during his time with Arsenal.
Fears about bringing him back too quickly saw him left out of Marseille's squad for their upcoming Europa League campaign but coach Michel told Thursday's edition of L'Equipe that he hopes to see the midfielder in action soon.
"Certainly," the recently appointed Spanish coach said in an interview with the sports daily. "We expect him to progressively start training with the rest of the squad in less than a week.
"If everything goes well, I'm crossing my fingers, it is possible that he will be playing again in a month.
"He is a player who we need in the dressing room, and we already have that. He works very hard and it is rare to see a player who has spent so much time without playing not get demoralised.
"He is an example to the other players. But we will need him on the field later on. We spoke to him before [about the Europa League]. We told him about the situation and he told us how he felt and it is a way for us to show him that we didn't want him to feel under pressure to be back in time to make the squad. The goal is to make sure he is relaxed."
Marseille begin their Europa League campaign away to Dutch side Groningen before taking on the Czech club Slovan Liberec and Braga of Portugal.