It’s fitting that Hugo Ekitike had something to smile about this week.When the Liverpool striker ruptured his Achilles tendon on April 15, it brought his club career to a temporary halt, as well as his journey with France to this summer’s World Cup.Ekitike was in line to make his national team’s squad as part of a star-studded attack and, as the tournament nears its conclusion, the frustration of watching his country move closer to glory without him will likely only have intensified.Yet, in recent days, Ekitike has been seen looking upbeat, having reached a crucial stage in his recovery. After months on crutches, he is finally edging closer to walking unaided and with a natural gait.On Instagram, the 24-year-old’s physio, Berengar Buschmann, posted a clip of the striker walking and then celebrating the achievement during a spell of rehabilitation in California.“Getting out of the boot is one milestone, seeing your gait slowly become more natural is another,” Buschmann, who knows Ekitike from his time at Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt, wrote.It’s a small win for Ekitike on an otherwise long journey, but it’s something to hold onto, at a time when it would have been easy to focus on what he was missing.So far, this World Cup has been a playground for the best on the planet, with so many star players enjoying memorable moments. Ekitike may not have been front and centre of an impressive France forward line had he made it to the tournament in North America, but he had featured in every France game since his initial £69million ($93.4m) move to Liverpool last summer and impressed coach Didier Deschamps before his setback. He also backed himself to shine if handed an opportunity.Barcelona and Spain’s Fermin Lopez was the only player valued at a higher price than Ekitike to miss the World Cup through injury, according to Transfermarkt. And while every injury tells a different story, the absence of football’s biggest names inevitably attracts the greatest attention.This would have been a potentially career-defining tournament for the forward with France but, instead, Ekitike is having to learn how to use adversity to fuel future growth.Hugo Ekitike was injured in the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain (Michael Steele/Getty Images)But time is on his side. When the next World Cup starts in Spain, Portugal and Morocco in 2030, he’ll still be younger than Ousmane Dembele is today at 29, which should give him great hope.His dreams of competing in this edition were shattered on that miserable night in April, when Liverpool’s hopes of ending the season with a trophy came to a sobering end with defeat by PSG in the Champions League.The striker slipped on the Anfield turf, unchallenged, and felt a pop. He required surgery and knew immediately the battle ahead was going to be demanding.An Achilles rupture is one of the toughest injuries to recover from and can keep a player out for up to 12 months, although the hope is that Ekitike returns much earlier. An exact date has not been identified but privately he has set goals that he is working towards, while understanding the importance of following the medical experts in his corner.Buschmann’s words in the caption to his Instagram post were simple: “The process continues and every detail matters. Every progression is earned. Stay criteria-based.”