Kieron Dyer has told WHUTV he is desperate to prove he can be a valuable member of the West Ham United squad.
The 31-year-old has endured a hugely frustrating and painful time since joining the Hammers from Newcastle United in July 2007.
Dyer's West Ham career was just 193 minutes old when his left leg was shattered in a challenge by Bristol Rovers defender Joe Jacobsen in a League Cup tie on 28 August 2007. The injury - a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula - required four operations to put his leg back together, ruling the No7 out until January 2009.
Since then, Dyer has been blighted by a series of hamstring injuries, and the player is understandably fed up of being confined to the treatment table rather than the dressing room.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH KIERON DYER'S WHUTV INTERVIEW
"All I keep saying is that people forget that my leg was broken just as badly as Aaron Ramsey's. I've had four operations just to fix it, I give 110 per cent in rehab every time.
"The fittest I've been since I became a West Ham player was at Wolverhampton on the first day of the season and I showed in that 70 minutes that I was on the pitch what I can do. I'm confident that, when I get match-fit, I'm going to be an asset to this club.
Dyer made his second consecutive first-team appearance in Saturday's 2-1 Barclays Premier League defeat by Bolton Wanderers, playing for 43 minutes, and he hopes to be involved from the start in a practice game this week.
"I'm still nowhere near match-fitness. I've got another game for the reserves and hopefully I can play my first full 90 minutes for a number of years. Hopefully that will put me in good stead for getting to full fitness."
While he admits he is nowhere near full match-fitness, Dyer impressed with his strong running in Saturday's loss to Bolton. However, he was as disappointed as anyone with the final result.
"It was a frustrating afternoon, but full credit to Bolton, because they thoroughly deserved the three points. They had a flier out of the traps, maybe there was a bit of complacency on our part because we've had a couple of great results at home of late, and all in all it was a very frustrating day.
"To win football matches, you need eight or nine players to be on top of their games. You can afford one or two players to have an off-day, but it was one of those days where, for the whole 90 minutes, we were not at our best and that's why we lost the game.
"Bolton created a lot more chances than us, so all in all it was a disappointing day and one we need to get over very quickly."