Miron Muslic has confirmed Plymouth Argyle captain Joe Edwards is 'very close' to making his comeback from a long-term hamstring injury.

The 34-year-old has been working with the rest of the Pilgrims' squad at the Harper's Park training ground this week as they prepare for the Emirates FA Cup clash against Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday.

While the eagerly-anticipated ITV-televised fourth round tie at Home Park will likely come too soon for him to be involved, it will not be too much longer before he is back

.

READ MORE: Plymouth Argyle competition for places hotting up says Miron Muslic

READ MORE: Plymouth Argyle vs Liverpool: The match officials for FA Cup tie

Muslic said: "Very positive and very good news, I think the captain is about to return. We are speaking about just a small time window until Joe can support us.

"He supported us anyway all the way even in his injury. It says a lot about his personality, it says a lot about his character. That's a proper captain so I'm very much looking forward to having him fully available so he can help us on the pitch. We are very close to seeing him back."

The Pilgrims' boss added: "It's about finding the right timing and the right balance for him. He was out for a long, long period and I want to keep Joe as long as possible for us, and I have to prepare him for this."

Edwards had been having an excellent start to the season for Argyle until he sustained his injury during the 3-3 draw at home to Preston North End on October 26.

During his time on the sidelines, Edwards had a spell in iterim charge of the first team with Kevin Nancekivell after the Pilgrims parted company with Wayne Rooney as their head coach.

It was under their guidance that Argyle caused a FA Cup upset by winning 1-0 away to Premier League club Brentford to set up their fourth round fixture against Arne Slot's Liverpool.

Muslic said about Edwards: "He's a leader. He was the leader in a difficult moment for us but also in a difficult moment personally for him because you want to support, you want to help, you want to lead but you can't because you are injured.

"We will need this leadership, we will need his presence, we will need his big, big green heart. He's in a very good way and it's our task now to prepare him best possible to keep him (fit) until the end of the season."

Meanwhile, there was also a positive injury update from Muslic on Hungarian defender Kornel Szucs, who has not played since the victory over Brentford due to injury.

Muslic said: "He has had a full week with us. The first time. So he had a full matchday minus four, a full matchday minus three, and he will just need a little bit of time to get used to this load because the last two days have been very demanding for him.

"You could also see and feel that he was a couple of weeks out. He's in a very good way and he will return very soon to the squad. I think Sunday can be a little bit too early."

You can read more of our Argyle stories from Plymouth Live by clicking HERE