Blackburn Rovers star's honest admission after injury issues

The defender was limited to only 16 appearances after a long spell out with a knee injury. That kept him on the sidelines for four months, between October and February.

After returning, and looking impressive, a calf injury at the end of March curtailed his season. He returned to the bench on the final day at Sheffield United but didn't feature.

The season prior, Carter struggled with a hamstring issue and missed 12 games of the season. That has put a slight dampener on his momentum after breaking through and establishing himself as a first-choice centre-back option.

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The 25-year-old hopes a positive pre-season will help ensure those issues are in the past this term.

"It's huge for me. Obviously, last year wasn't my best year in terms of injuries and missing long periods," Carter told RoversTV.

"Hopefully this pre-season is a good one and it can give me the platform to kick on this year and stay fit and be available for every game.

"The season started well. Then obviously the knee injury, which I could do nothing about, was a huge kick in the teeth, but now I've worked hard during that rehab to come back.

"Then to do the calf after five games, where I thought I came back and did reasonably well personally. Yes, it was really disappointing, but as I said, I hope this pre-season is a smooth one and I can give myself a good platform to stay fit for the season.

"With the setbacks last year and missing so much football, I think I needed that break away mentally more than anything, like you said, just to reset and be ready for the upcoming season."

Rovers returned to Brockhall's Senior Training Centre on Monday for testing. Tuesday was the first proper day on the grass, with fitness work and ball exercises filling the session.

"The first few days have been really positive. It was a tough day yesterday with all the testing and the fitness test, but today, to get the balls out and stuff, it's been a positive start and it's good to be back up and running," he said.

"We've got good sports scientists, the physios and staff who do all the data work and stuff to make sure we're in the best condition possible for the start of the season and to remain fit for as much of the season as possible. So, yes, pre-season is huge and hopefully, we can all do well in pre-season, all get through it unscathed and crack on.

"It's massive, we know the first few weeks of pre-season is always going to be tough after having a few weeks off. But we all know why we have to do it and how important it is.

"The sports scientists and coaches let us know why we do each thing, and the last few weeks of pre-season is always about doing the tactical work and making sure we know what we're doing come the start of the season."

Valerien Ismael will be keen to build on his first few months as Rovers boss. The head coach cited pre-season as the ideal opportunity to really cement his ideas into the players.

"I think that helps. A lot of the lads were obviously here last season and know what the manager demands, so I think that can only be a positive going into this season," Carter concluded.

"It's been eight weeks or so now since last season finished. We're all excited to see who we're facing and when, and like I said, we're all looking forward to getting the season up and running.

"I'll keep an eye out for former clubs, like Portsmouth, but otherwise we're just ready to get the campaign going."