Luton Town captain Tom Lockyer, who was “technically dead” after suffering a cardiac arrest during a match in December, has returned to the club’s training ground “to start the next phase of his rehabilitation”.

In a message posted on its website on Tuesday, the club said: “We are so pleased to be able to inform our supporters and everyone around the world who has sent him their support that our captain, Tom Lockyer, has today returned to The Brache [training ground] to start the next phase of his rehabilitation.

“Tom has been under the guidance and care of leading consultants in London and Amsterdam, where he has been completing the most recent phase of his rehabilitation at a specialist clinic.

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“For now, Tom will work individually back at The Brache, but his very presence around the training ground will be welcomed by all of his team-mates, manager Rob Edwards and the coaching staff.

“Whilst continuing his rehab, Tom will continue his work with the British Heart Foundation in spreading the importance of knowing CPR and how to use a defibrillator, and he will now be focussing fully on his next stage of the rehabilitation.”

On X, the club, nicknamed The Hatters, wrote: “Our Locks is back at The Brache”.

Lockyer, 29, collapsed during a Premier League match at Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium on 16 December, with his father and pregnant girlfriend watching on.

He has said he was “technically dead” for two minutes and 40 seconds before medics resuscitated him and he later had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator fitted.

He had previously collapsed on the pitch seven months earlier during the Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium because of a different heart condition, atrial fibrillation.

In May, Lockyer, whose first child was born in March, said while he “would love to play again”, he was “at peace” with retiring from the game.

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He told BBC Radio Wales: “I’ve made no secret saying I would love to return to football, but ultimately it would have to come down to someone who’s a cardiologist or a specialist who has done full research into what has gone on and if it could happen again, because we’ve got a little girl now and she takes priority.”

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He is one of a number of footballers past or present who have survived either heart attacks, cardiac arrest, or heart conditions.

The list includes Graeme Souness, Glenn Hoddle, David Ginola, and Fabrice Muamba, the latter pair, like Lockyer, having collapsed on the pitch during a game.

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