Valencia have been boosted by the news that defender Jeremy Mathieu could return from injury as early as December.
The French international has been out with a chronic Achilles tendon problem that has spread into his right leg, but after a visit to the celebrated Doctor Cugat clinic in Barcelona he will not now require an operation, according to Las Provincias.
It was provisionally estimated Mathieu would be sidelined until at least the end of February and would miss around 15 La Liga games, the whole of the Copa del Rey and the last 16 of the Champions League.
That would have meant that Los Che, while impressed with the form of Aly Cissokho, would have needed to sign an additional left-hand sided player as cover while money is still tight at Mestalla.
