Nathan Redmond has made “huge progress” since picking up an ankle injury against Manchester City in Norwich’s 0-0 draw last month, according to manager Alex Neil.
Speaking to Norwich City TV, the City boss gave the latest squad news ahead of a crucial relegation fixture against Newcastle United tomorrow.
Whilst saying the game against the Magpies could come around too early for the England U21 international, Alex Neil has not ruled out a return earlier than predicted:
I’m just a little bit concerned it might be too early for him. It’s one of those ones where do you risk him for this one but potentially lose him for others if it doesn’t go the way you’d like, or do you maybe delay it for a week and take it from there.
We’ll monitor him on Friday and take that decision afterwards.
Neil also confirmed that he’d have both Steven Naismith and Ryan Bennett available for selection Saturday, with both struggling from injuries before the International break.
Steven’s fine. He had a bit of a hamstring problem leading into the West Brom game, he played a little part and aggravated it a bit, so it was important for him and for us that we made sure he was fit for this one.
Ryan’s been training so he’s fully up to speed, there are no issues with him.
In regards to City’s selection of international players who represented their countries over the two-week break, Alex Neil ensured his players all survived and came back unscathed, ahead of the season’s run-in.
Most of them got their game-time shared with others, which is good.
I don’t think any of them played both games for their countries, which is positive for us.
