Cambridge United defender Mamadou Jobe ‘very, very close’ to returning for cruciate ligament injury while Korey Smith should be back playing in August

Cambridge United head coach Neil Harris has provided a fitness update on Mamadou Jobe and Korey Smith.

Jobe missed the whole of the 2024/25 season with a cruciate knee ligament injury that he suffered last summer.

However, having taken a full part in the warm-up ahead of this afternoon’s 3-1 pre-season friendly win over Cambridge City, Harris has revealed that the centre-back is closing in on a return to action.

He said: “He’s very, very close. Mamadou has done every training session (this summer).

“We felt it was important that Mams has a full couple of weeks training before we integrate him back in.

“Mams has missed a lot football over the last 15 months so as much as I’m desperate to get him on the pitch, desperate to get him in the group, we don’t need to rush him.

“What’s important is that he’s done all of the warm-up, he’s done all of the running that everyone else has done and a little bit more – he’s just missing that 45 minutes.

“But we played an in-house 11v11 earlier in the week and he played. He did 22 minutes so he’s fit and ready to go, we’re just making sure we’re getting his timeline correct and giving him the best opportunity of staying fit.”

Smith, meanwhile, has been sidelined since January with a knee injury sustained in training.

The midfielder was not involved against City, with Harris confirming that he is not set to be back in the fold until next month.

The U’s boss added: “There’s no setbacks with Korey, it’s just his timeline.

“Korey is still four weeks away from being involved on a matchday, and when he is involved that’s going to be a real slow build up.

“Presuming there’s no setbacks with him, we’re looking at him being back in full training in two weeks and back involved on a matchday within the month.

“It means we’re going to have to build up his minutes with other games rather than through first-team matches.”