Josh McEachran appears ahead of schedule as the Brentford man looks to recover from his second fractured foot in the space of 12 months.
The former Chelsea midfielder suffered his first injury in pre-season training last summer and then had the same blow in March.
McEachran is now working on the pitches and is able to run without suffering pain and head coach Dean Smith is hopeful he can play a part in pre-season.
He said: “Josh is back on the pitches. He's doing a lot more running now pain free and he's done gentle striking of the ball as well.
“We'll hope he'll be with the training group and working hard as he missed most of last season and it took him a while to get his fitness back and we want it to be there as soon as possible. It's looking like he's going to be ahead of schedule.”
Philipp Hofmann had fitness issues towards the end of last season and will be returning to pre-season training early in order to strengthen him ahead of the new campaign.
Smith added: “Phil is fit. He'll be coming back earlier than the others. We wanted him to come back three or four days earlier to get some fitness work into him.
“They want to get better and they want to get fitter. They saw how the season finished and what they can go on and do.
“Some of them will be back to do extra work like Scotty Hogan and Lewis Macleod. Philipp Hofmann and Maxime Colin.
“They need a bit more management than others in terms of long-term injuries. Andreas Bjelland as well. We'll have a good look at them before we start.”
