Stoke City remain waiting on Oghenekaro Etebo as they prepare for a crunch home clash in front of the television cameras against West Bromwich Albion.
Etebo has been a key figure for Nathan Jones in 2019, as well as helping Nigeria reach the Africa Cup of Nations semi-final.
He was late back for pre-season due to those international commitments and has only been able to start eight out of Stoke’s 14 Championship matches to date.
The 23-year-old, who cost £6.3 million from Feirense in the summer of 2018, was then forced off after just 21 minutes in last mid-week’s defeat at Sheffield Wednesday.
Assistant manager Paul Hart was hopeful that he might make a speedy enough recovery to feature in the weekend trip to Millwall but early suggestions that the thigh injury would keep him out for the best part of a fortnight were closer to the mark.
Jones has added: “Etebo was missing with an injury (at Millwall) that will keep him out for a bit of time.”
Stoke have two more games before the international break, taking on West Brom at the bet365 Stadium on Monday before heading to Barnsley in a big match at the bottom of the division on the Saturday.
Nigeria have two 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers next month: taking on Benin on November 13 and Lesotho on November 19.
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
