Bidwell Sakamoto and internationals – Coventry City fitness latest ahead of Preston North End.
Coventry City injury news from CoventryLive as Sky Blues boss Mark Robins provides updates on Jake Bidwell, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Jamie Allen and his returning internationals, Haji Wright, Joel Latibeaudiere and Brandon Thomas-Asante.
Mark Robins has provided some good news on the Coventry City injury front, revealing that Jake Bidwell’s injury is not as bad as first feared, while confirming that Tatsuhiro Sakamoto is fit for Preston and his international players have reported back “present and correct” after being on long haul duty with their respective countries.
Full-back Bidwell suffered a knee ligament strain against Sheffield Wednesday last time out, almost a fortnight ago, but the Sky Blues manager insists the defender “won’t be that long at all,” albeit a definite miss for the trip to Deepdale and an almost certain absentee at QPR on Tuesday.
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“You know Jake,” said Robins, when asked for a condition check by CoventryLive. “He’s an unbelievable healer and he won’t be that long at all. He’s somebody who does everything right and he will be pushing through everything, and even if he’s in a little bit of pain he will come back and as long as it’s not negative to him he will get himself back really quickly.
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“He will miss this weekend, it’s too soon for him, but he won’t be too long. They were looking at about eight weeks but it’s been a couple of weeks already and I think he will be quicker than that, a lot quicker than that.”
Asked if it is a similar issue to Jamie Allen’s knee ligament injury, the City boss said: “Yeah, very similar. They may be back around the same time, but it won’t be long.”
As for Sakamoto, who suffered a nasty gash to his thigh in the opening minutes against Blackburn, forcing the Japanese winger to miss the following game with eight stitches to the wound, Robins said: “Yeah, he’s fine, all good and he’s got himself back into the reckoning and it’s good to have him moving freely and he looks close to back to where he was last season.”
And giving an update on his returning internationals – Haji Wright (USA), Joel Latibeaudiere (Jamaica), Brandon Thomas-Asante (Ghana) and Oliver Dovin (Sweden U-21s) – three of whom have been on long haul trips, he said: “They’re all back in the building, all present and correct. Some came back yesterday and some the day before. They just fit straight back in and you look at the whole thing, their training, playing time, travel and then gauge how they are feeling. But they have come back in pretty good nick, so I am pleased with everything we do with them and we’re trying to keep them awake for a few more hours so they don’t suffer with jet lag. But we will see what they are like again today.”
