And, although neither has resumed full training yet, they are just days away from being given the green light to join in with the rest of the players.

While that has been enough for gaffer Peter Houston to pencil them in for seats on the plane to Austria and the week-long training camp, he will delay any decision on whether or not they take part in either of the scheduled games over there.

“They’ve been working with the physio and he assures me they’ll be ready to play by next week, so that’s good news,” said Houstie.

“Both of them have been working hard over the summer and I’ve been watching them training. They haven’t been with the rest of the boys, but they haven’t been holding back.

“My one thing is there is still a good while until the season starts, so I don’t have to rush them and, if I’ve any concerns, I won’t use them in the games in Austria.

“I’m very aware that, with the type of injuries they’ve had, the hard grounds you get at this time of year can be a problem.”

The manager is also taking a soft-softly approach with Scott Robertson, even though he was fit enough to come off the bench in the cup final.

“Scott’s another one who’s been working hard over the summer and he was playing again by the end of last season.

“He was not ready for 90 minutes, though, and I don’t want to push him too hard. Having said that, he’s done all the work so far in training.”

Striker Kevin Smith, meanwhile, could also be at the training complex in Obertraun from this weekend — but with Notts County.

He’s travelled south for a week’s try-out with England’s oldest club and, if they want to extend that to during their training camp in the Alps next week, they’ll get the go-ahead from Houstie.

Smith has spent most of his time at Tannadice out on loan and, while he hasn’t been told he is surplus to requirements, with several other clubs as well as County expressing an interest, United will not stand in his way should he want to go.

“I’ve not told him to find somewhere else, but we do have quality strikers here and I have said he has a battle to get into the team,” explained Houstie.

“He’s down the pecking order a bit and I’d understand if he decided to try his luck elsewhere and, after what he did while he was on loan at Raith Rovers last season, I know there are clubs who would like him.

“With Notts County, I’m happy for him to be there this week and it’s no problem if they want to take him to Austria with them — they leave on Saturday for the same place as us.”

Incredible as that may sound for a man who has finished seasons as European football’s top striker for two different Spanish clubs and also had a big-money move to Manchester United, it’s true.

Former Dens owner Peter Marr has confirmed the Dark Blues were offered the services and part ownership of a young Forlan during the memorable days of Ivano Bonetti’s time as manager.

“It’s true. If I remember correctly, Ivano’s brother — assistant manager Dario — went across to South America looking for players and he came back with a video of a player he was raving about,” recalls Peter.

“Ivano showed me it and, as he put the tape in the machine, he said to me ‘Here’s the next Caniggia’.

“It was Forlan, who could have been only about 21 at the time, but you could see he was a special player.

“Problem for us was his people wanted £500,000 for a half share in him and Ivano and Dario had already told them that was not the kind of market we were looking at.

“It was not long after that he went to Manchester United for something in the region of £5 million — and, given what he’s achieved since then, it’s amazing to think we were offered him.”

Forlan struggled to make the grade at Old Trafford, but shone after moving to Spain with Villarreal and now Atletico Madrid — and has won the prestigious Golden Boot award with each club.

Had he ended up at Dens, a laughing Peter suspects he might have reached the heights even earlier.

“Look at the strikers at the World Cup who play in England and most of them, like Rooney and Torres, have really struggled.

“Forlan didn’t come into his own until he went to Spain and he hasn’t looked back since then.

“The way Dundee played under Ivano would have suited his style better — maybe we should have tried for him after all.”

FOOTNOTE — Uruguay did, of course, win the World Cup in 1950 — but the tournament that year was played in a round-robin format, with the Uruguayans beating Brazil 2-1 in their final group match, played in Rio de Janeiro in front of an almost-200,000 strong crowd, to win the trophy.

“We do have the game tomorrow and then MK Dons on Saturday, but at this stage fitness is still the priority and that means we’ll be working hard all week,” said boss Gordon Chisholm.

“That doesn’t mean I’m not looking for the boys to show up well in the games, but we have to keep putting the work in.”

After heading for the university campus last week for a series of tests, including the dreaded bleep test, today saw the players given individual exercise programmes to follow.

“Now they’ve been assessed, they are being told exactly what type of weights and other things they should be doing and, as well as the work we do as a squad, they’ll follow those programmes themselves,” explained Gordon.

He’s knocked back a new deal at Wycombe and the Perth men are believed to be keen on him.

The squad, meanwhile, are being put through their paces at Warwick University and manager Derek McInnes reports everybody to be in fine fettle.