Dan-Axel Zagadou steps up injury recovery at Stuttgart

Dan-Axel Zagadou is making encouraging progress in his recovery from a thigh muscle injury and has returned to partial team training with VfB Stuttgart.

The centre-back sustained the injury to the back of his thigh during a pre-season friendly against Everton in August, ruling him out of training and competitive action for several weeks.

Stuttgart coach Sebastian Hoeneß provided a positive update ahead of Saturday’s Bundesliga trip to SC Paderborn, confirming that Zagadou is now taking part in portions of team training.

“Daxo is already relatively far along in partial training,” Hoeneß said, indicating that the defender’s rehabilitation is progressing well.

However, Zagadou will not be ready to return against Paderborn. The club confirmed that he remains in partial training alongside Tiago Tomás and Nikolas Nartey, meaning all three players are still unavailable for Saturday’s match.

The 27-year-old has yet to make an appearance for Stuttgart in the 2026/27 Bundesliga season, according to the Bundesliga’s official player statistics.

Zagadou’s gradual integration into team training represents an important step, although Stuttgart are yet to set a date for his full return to action.