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Lorenzo Insigne feels ready to play again

Despite being on the bench several times in recent weeks, Lorenzo Insigne hasn't quite been ready to play just yet. Now he feels that he's taken the last step needed in order to put on a Napoli shirt again.

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It's been a tough road for Lorenzo Insigne this season. He started out in dreadful form, without confidence or much support from the stands, and Insigne struggled mightily to play well again. When his form finally turned around, it did so with a bang, with Insigne playing at a high level for several games -- then it all unraveled when his ACL tore in his right knee against Fiorentina in November.

It's been almost five months since that fateful day, and Insigne recently returned to full training and has also been in several matchday squads over the past few weeks as well. He has yet to play in a live match, though, but according to the player himself, that big moment may finally be close.

"These months were hard, suffering, waiting, in pain and not just in the physical sense," Insigne told Corriere dello Sport. "But that's how it goes. I did [my physical therapy] quickly, I gave it everything I had, and I still have other things to give, but I feel good and I'm ready."

Those last three words are a thing of beauty for Napoli fans. Insigne has been much missed while he's been gone, not just for his quality when he's on his game, but also for his infectious joy and energy he brings to the squad. With the club entering a crucial stretch of the season and faltering badly in terms of squad form over the past six weeks or so, finding some way, any way, to prop the club back up and figure out how to get things working again is a must.

Maybe, just maybe, Lorenzo Insigne can do that for Napoli. We can only hope.