Mick McCarthy’s fingers are crossed that Luke Hyam has put his injury nightmare behind him at Ipswich Town.

The 25-year-old has made just 31 appearances for the Blues since the start of the 2014-15 season, his progress being dogged by a series of injuries.

Hyam was sidelined for almost the entirety of 2015 with a serious knee injury and then damaged his other knee in a pre-season game at Cambridge United last July, during which he suffered nerve damage. The Ipswich-born midfield player has not played since then.

There was better news last Monday however, as the Blues and Hyam returned back to pre-season training, and McCarthy hopes the midfielder can now stay injury-free.

“I hope so, he (Hyam) has been having rehab all throughout the summer, he’s been doing his work, and it’s good to see him out training,” said the Blues boss, who has strengthened in Hyam’s position this summer, bringing in Emyr Huws and Tom Adeyemi, having released Giles Cole and Jonathan Douglas.

“He came back from the nerve damage he had and looked really good, then he blocked the ball on the line and he did his ankle ligaments (in training).”

In between his injuries, Hyam did return for a part of the 2015-16 campaign and revealed his anguish after the 3-1 home defeat to Brentford, during which time he was involved in a challenge with Alan Judge which broke the Irish midfielder’s leg.

“I felt so bad for him. He has had such a tough time. I go back to his tackle against Brentford when he got sent-off and the lad (Alan Judge) broke his leg,” McCarthy added.

“That was awful that and that 12 months has been a really tough time for him.

“Fingers crossed he can have a good start to the season and we can get a full season out of him.”

Meanwhile, McCarthy would like to see the Blues emulate Huddersfield Town, who won promotion to the Premier League in May, and reflected on a superb season for the Terriers.

“Maybe it was just (manager) David Wagner’s approach to it, maybe they caught some players by surprise,” McCarthy said.

“He made some very good signings and I am not certain, but they cost a few quid as well.

Amazing season for them, absolutely fantastic. We all want to emulate that, but whether we can remains to be seen.”