Emerton has made 229 appearances for Blackburn

Blackburn midfielder Brett Emerton has revealed he hopes to be fit for the start of the season after undergoing cruciate knee ligament surgery.

The 30-year-old Australia international missed the final four months of the campaign, the longest spell on the sidelines of his career.

"Everything's going really well," he told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"I've been running for quite some time now and I'll be looking to rejoin the team during pre-season."

Emerton added: "The longest spell before this is probably two to three weeks so it's something I haven't encountered before during my career.

When I was injured I couldn't help thinking I'd like to be out there helping the boys Brett Emerton

"I've been very lucky with injuries, so this is providing a different type of challenge for me."

The Sydney-born player joined Blackburn from Dutch Eredivisie side Feyenoord for £2.5m in July 2003.

After scoring on his Rovers debut against Wolves, he has gone on to score a further 12 goals, the last in the 3-2 defeat by Aston Villa in October.

And Emerton has said staving off relegation last season has given him an extra incentive to regain his place in the starting line-up.

"I'm so much more relaxed now because when I was injured I couldn't help thinking I'd like to be out there helping the boys," he said.

"It was a good finish to the season and I'm glad we stayed up, especially with the number of injuries we had to contend with."

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