Van Gaal: Ribery could be fit for start of season

Franck Ribery could yet figure at the start of the upcoming Bundesliga season after his coach Louis van Gaal said he was making good progress in his recovery from a knee injury.

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Franck Ribery: Bayern Munich winger eager to return to action.

The Frenchman has been unable to train fully for ten days and has already been ruled out of Bayern's first serious test of the season on Sunday in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, but Van Gaal has not given up hope of having him available to face Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga a week later.

"He is coming along well and could get back into full training next week,'' said Van Gaal. "That is a good sign.''

Bayern face AC Milan at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night - the first time Van Gaal has led out his side in front of their own fans - and he warned it may take a little while longer before they will be thoroughly entertained.

"I think we need a full season,'' he said. "It is a process and we are still lacking players, for example our big star Ribery. We have only been with this team for three-and-a-half weeks, but I have a good feeling and am confident, certainly after the Cologne game.

"I hope these top teams will please the fans, but that the fans also know that we are still in the preparation period, and the other top teams are too.''

Bayern defeated Cologne 2-0 in their last warm-up friendly and Van Gaal is keen to see whether his side can perform as well against arguably more illustrious opponents.

"It could be a very good game,'' he said. "We know everything about AC Milan and they know everything about us. I am looking forward to seeing if we can perform against a top club.

"That would be good for me, very good for the players and also good for Bayern and for the fans.''

In the continued absence of Ribery, Van Gaal will be using these two games to find a replacement for the Frenchman next weekend. He has already ruled Bastian Schweinsteiger out of the running for that position and hinted that youngster Thomas Muller could be a candidate.

The 18-year-old played behind the two strikers Mario Gomez and Miroslav Klose in Cologne and Van Gaal was particularly happy with that experiment. "I would be very happy if we could always play the way we did in the first half against Cologne,'' he said.

"Now I have got to decide who can take Ribery's place for the start of the season.''