Dejan Iliev is hoping to be back from injury soon, but he remains in North Macedonia whilst working on his rehabilitation.

Arsenal loanee Dejan Iliev has been out of action since October 2nd through injury, missing SKF Sered’s last five league games.

The 26-year-old goalkeeper was a nailed-on starter before that, playing nine Fortuna Liga matches in a row and keeping three clean sheets.

Unfortunately, Iliev remains unavailable for selection by the Slovakian side, and he’s been in his home country of North Macedonia working on his recovery this week.

Posting on his Instagram story, Iliev wrote that he’ll “soon be back on the pitch”.

This latest problem is the second injury of Iliev’s loan, after he suffered a head injury in a cup game in September. Fortunately, he returned from that knock quickly, playing the next couple of games before he was ruled out again.

It’s fair to say this has been a consistent theme of many of Iliev’s loans. His early injury problems at Shrewsbury Town last season meant that by the time he was fully fit, he’d already pretty much lost his place.

It was the same story in the previous campaign at Jagiellonia Bialystok.

In fact, the only loan spell Iliev came through without any fitness concerns was his previous loan to Sered, where he didn’t miss a match before his January 2020 recall by Arsenal.

Iliev’s contract with Arsenal expires at the end of the season, so he’s really playing for his future right now.

You’d imagine that will be away from North London, but he needs to convince Sered he’s worth keeping around, or another club he’s worth picking up. The sooner he can get fit and playing again, the better.