Peter Odemwingie will be back in full training with Stoke City first team squad sooner than later, manager Mark Hughes has confirmed.
The Nigeria international, 33, has not featured for the Potters since August due to a knee ligament injury, but handed his recovery a big boost early this week with his return to training.
“Peter has had a good seven days or so and has managed to get out there and do a little bit of work with the ball,” Hughes told the club’s official website.
“All being well, if he suffers no setbacks to his training next week then we can look to integrate him back into work with the rest of the first-team group the week after.
The Welsh boss added: “Peter is a real good news story for us. He has done all the straight line running he can do and the next part is getting out a ball and being confident with the injury
“That’s the key thing, having confidence in the knee.
“You know when you’ve had an injury like Peter’s that there will be differences but more often than not it’s because the knee’s stronger and you’re not used to that.
“That’s certainly the case with Peter. He’s happy with where he’s at in terms of his rehabilitation but you still need the confidence of actually going out and playing football, which he hasn’t had.
Odemwingie joined Stoke from Cardiff City in January and has scored five goals in his 18 appearances for the club.
Stoke City- tenth in the Premier League table- are away to West Ham on Saturday, with seven games left in the season.
