West Ham United centre-back Winston Reid has revealed that he is not too far away from a return to action, having been injured since the start of November.

Reid said that the need to undergo surgery put his recovery back, but added that the pain has gone and his progress has been good in recent weeks.

"I'm as close as I've ever been to returning to training," he told the club's official website. "We'll just have to see how it feels as to how we play it. Unfortunately, I had to have an operation and it took a little bit longer than I expected.

"There was a ligament torn in my ankle so they had to repair it by putting a screw through it to stabilise the joint. Now, it's pretty much good to go again. It was painful when it happened and it got even worse in the couple of days afterwards, but after that it settled down.

"People probably don't understand but you work hardest when you are injured because the days are pretty long."

West Ham are currently 18th in the Premier League.