The time is coming for Tom Adeyemi needs to ‘grit his teeth’ and push himself back into action following his latest injury lay-off, according to Ipswich boss Paul Hurst.
The midfielder, who managed just five appearances last season due to illness and hamstring trouble, is currently not training due to an Achilles issue.
Another, unnamed, Ipswich player is struggling with a similar problem and has not missed training, leaving Hurst frustrated to not have Adeyemi available to him.
“Tom’s one, because he’s had so many injuries, he finds it difficult to get back out there,” he said.
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“As far as I’m concerned he’s getting to the point where he has to grit his teeth and get on with it. As harsh as that may sound, he’s at risk of having another season, already, of not playing enough football having missed far too much already.
“Hopefully we can get him back out there and keep him out there.
“There’s obviously something (an injury) there but there’s another player in the squad that has something very similar who has trained every day.
“I want him to get out there. We all have different pain thresholds but I’m wanting people I can rely on and go to war with.
“When Tom first dropped out (of training) my understanding was he would miss a couple of days and yet I’ve not seen him back in training yet.
“I’m wanting to see him back out there if he’s going to be part of the plans.”
When asked if his medical staff were telling him Adeyemi is ready to train fully, Hurst replied: “Almost, almost.
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“It’s difficult because they aren’t feeling his pain but, as I stated, we have a player with a similar issue who hasn’t missed a day’s training.”
Cole Skuse is a doubt for Saturday’s final pre-season clash with West Ham due to a thigh injury, but Hurst expects him to be fine to face Blackburn on opening day.
“It’s just his thigh, he felt it at the MK Dons, which was why he came off at half-time,” Hurst said.
“We genuinely don’t think it’s anything too serious but I think he would have happily have gone out the other night but we might well have risked him for a much longer period out.
“He’s given a few signs to the physios that he could be involved on Saturday, but that decision may be taken out of his hands because I’m not prepared to risk someone like Cole in that game.”
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Joe Garner returned to training at the Blues’ Open Day having previously struggled with a knee injury, but his is a situation Hurst will keep an eye on as he eases himself back into action.
“Joe’s trained but was still feeling a bit sore, but we’ll see if that is a sore which will keep him out of training tomorrow or just sore in terms of a first day back,” he said.
“He’s one who has missed a chunk of pre-season now which is difficult to get back.”
Teddy Bishop and Danny Rowe trained having suffered with hamstring injuries while Emyr Huws worked with fitness coaches, rather than joining in the main session.
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