Brazilian has been out since November with a knee injury "I believe I’ll come back stronger" LONDON: Carlos Eduardo has vowed to return to action fitter than ever following a serious knee injury and has set his sights on winning the AFC Champions League with Al-Hilal. The Brazilian playmaker is in the final stages of his recovery from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and has been training with his teammates during a camp in the UAE. He is not yet back in full training but the club say he “is expected to be fully recovered by the first of July.” Eduardo has not played since suffering the injury in the first leg of the AFC Champions League final with Urawa Reds in November, but he feels the end is now in sight. “Now I’m in the last stage,” Eduardo said in a video published on the club’s Twitter account. “I’ve completed six months and now I’m in the training period to recover the ball work. I took part in some team trainings to regain the playing rhythm, returning gradually, so at the end of this period I think when we return for the pre-season I’ll be fully recovered for all the training.” Eduardo had surgery in his native Brazil and admitted he struggled during what was the first serious injury of his career. “It was a different period for me — I went through it for the first time,” he said. “But it was an important period for me. And I’d like to thank those who helped me in Brazil ... for this work they did for me, which helped me in the recovery.” The 2015 signing from Porto said he drew strength from the support he received from the Al-Hilal fans. “Al-Hilal fans’ support was an important thing for me,” he said. “Day by day I shared with them some parts from my rehab program and ... I found motivation from them. That helped me during the treatment period.” Eduardo has missed 28 games and Al-Hilal have struggled without him. They exited the AFC Champions League at the group stage, crashed out of the King’s Cup and just about crawled over the line to win the Saudi Pro League by a solitary point. Whoever the new coach of Al-Hilal turns out to be, they are likely to build the side around a player who has scored 50 goals for the Riyadh giants and seven in last year’s AFC Champions League. “I aspire to return fully recovered again and come back to serve Al-Hilal as I did before,” he said. “I believe I’ll come back stronger and I also hope to win the Asian Championship. It will not be possible this season, but it is important to me to win titles that I haven’t achieved yet. I won all titles with Al-Hilal but for me Asia is still missing.” Al-Hilal are still yet to appoint a coach to replace Ramon Diaz, who they fired in February. Arab News learned that they had made contract with Quique Sanchez Flores, Shakhtar Donetsk manager Paulo Fonseca and Sporting manager Jorge Jesus, but Juan Ignacio Brown still remains in caretaker charge. Al-Hilal took the usual step last week of issuing a statement to clarify the recruitment process. “The club did not negotiate with those names and didn’t seek to contract with them and the aim of this is to increase their contractual cost through some agents by mentioning the name of Al-Hilal due to the club’s popularity and high position,” it read.