Woodgate impatient to end injury nightmare

"It has been a nightmare, that's the only word I can use to describe it," Woodgate, 25, told Reuters.

"The worst thing in football is to come to a new club and not be able to play or train with the other players and that's what happened."

Woodgate joined Real for close to 20 million euros from Newcastle in August 2004 despite not having played a competitive game since tearing a thigh muscle in a league game against Chelsea the previous April.

He suffered a recurrence of the injury shortly before he was due to make his comeback in October and did not play for the rest of the season.

But after months of intensive treatment, a battery of specialised tests and a personalised recovery programme, club doctors and the player himself are at last confident he is nearing the end of his ordeal.

"I've been with the physios for a year now and it has been possibly the hardest bit of my career so far," he says. "But hopefully I've come through it."

Woodgate admits he never expected to spend so long out of the game but insists he has learnt a lot from the experience.

"I knew the injury was bad-ish when I did it. I knew it was a muscle tear but I never thought it would go on for 15 months or so. I look back on it and I think I wish I'd just taken my time."

The defender says he is now determined to repay Real for the faith they have shown in him.

"The club paid a lot of money for me and I just want to pay a bit back now by staying fit for the rest of the season."

One compensation for spending an entire season on the sidelines is that Woodgate has been able to work hard on his Spanish while his easy-going manner have helped him integrate successfully at the club.

"I'm improving my Spanish. I know all the little bits and the slang and that's great so when I start playing I'll be the happiest man around."

The former Leeds player insists he has not thought any further ahead than Real's pre-season training camp in Austria but with the World Cup at the end of the season he is hoping he will be able to regain his place in the England squad in the coming months.

"To be honest I haven't thought about England yet," he says. "I haven't played for Madrid yet and I've been here a year now. Hopefully, if I play well for Madrid, England will come."