Hoffenheim manager Julian Nagelsmann has confirmed that Reiss Nelson is out of training at the moment, after suffering a back injury.

WOLFSBURG, GERMANY - DECEMBER 08: Reiss Nelson of Hoffenheim (L) fights for the ball with Maximilian Arnold of Wolfsburg during the Bundesliga match between VfL Wolfsburg and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim at Volkswagen Arena on December 8, 2018 in Wolfsburg, Germany. (Photo by Selim Sudheimer/Bongarts/Getty Images)
WOLFSBURG, GERMANY – DECEMBER 08: Reiss Nelson of Hoffenheim (L) fights for the ball with Maximilian Arnold of Wolfsburg during the Bundesliga match between VfL Wolfsburg and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim at Volkswagen Arena on December 8, 2018, in Wolfsburg, Germany. (Photo by Selim Sudheimer/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Reiss Nelson was mysteriously absent from Hoffenheim’s squad to face Bayern Munich last Friday, with neither the club nor the manager publicly confirming the reason the youngster missed out. Even after the match, German outlets like Bild wrote that Nelson’s absence was ‘not quite understandable’.

However, we’ve finally been given an explanation, with Hoffenheim tweeting quotes from Nagelsmann saying: “At the weekend, we will select the team based on our gameplan, as we usually do. Lukas Rupp and his knee still need time; Kassim Adams (thigh injury) and Reiss Nelson (back injury) have not been able to train recently.”

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GELSENKIRCHEN, GERMANY – FEBRUARY 17: Coach Julian Nagelsmann of Hoffenheim looks on before the Bundesliga match between FC Schalke 04 and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim at Veltins-Arena on February 17, 2018, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. (Photo by Christof Koepsel/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Nelson returned to England over the winter break, and he ended up needing to take an extended holiday ‘for family reasons’, ruling him out of Hoffenheim’s first session back. It wasn’t long until he did make his return to training though, rejoining the squad on January 8th, 10 days before his loan club’s first post-break game.

Unfortunately, Nelson evidently then suffered an injury in training, and we’ll have to wait for more updates to know exactly how long he’ll be out.

Nelson has six goals and one assist in 19 appearances for his loan club this season, but he’s still only made five starts so far. With any luck, he’ll add to that significantly in the second half of the campaign.