Kaizer Chiefs star Samir Nurkovic has revealed that his injury problems stretch back to last season and, despite just coming off crutches, he is getting better and better every day.

The Serbia forward got off to a fairytale start at Chiefs after signing three seasons ago, but has struggled to replicate that devastating form this season after being held back by a knee injury.

Nurkovic, speaking to the Chiefs media team as quoted by SoccerLaduma, revealed that he first suffered the injury against Wydad Casablanca in last season’s Caf Champions League semi-final second leg and has not been 100% since.

“The injury actually happened at the end of last season; we were playing [Caf] Champions League second leg against Wydad Casablanca. I consulted with the doctors and the physios and we decided to keep going with some treatment, so to leave surgery as a last option,” Nurkovic said.

“As you saw, that wasn’t my best game that I was playing after that. I was struggling on the field with an injury then after five games, we decided that we have to do surgery,” he added.

“We knew in the beginning after that game, we did all the MRI [scans] I was in the hospital for all the screening, and they found out that there was a tear in my lateral meniscus, and you can play with that – but you cannot play on 100%. I was maybe at 70% and I wasn’t able to give the best Samir Nurkovic to the team on the field and to help them the way I can.”

Nurkovic was allowed to leave to his native Serbia after deciding to undergo surgery to fix the problem, but he is now back in the country as he looks to step up his recovery.

“I was on crutches for three weeks, just yesterday I stopped using them, so I already started with cycling and the knee is getting better and better every day,” he added.

“The doctor that did the surgery said around nine weeks for this injury but it depends on you. Hopefully, it will be nine weeks,” said Nurkovic.