ALBION boss Chris Hughton has welcomed back Kazenga LuaLua – hopefully for the rest of the season.
The left-winger is available for tomorrow’s FA Cup tie at Hull, together with fellow long-term injury victim Sam Baldock.
Hughton told The Argus: “It’s certainly good to have him back. Hopefully he can stay back. When you have got somebody who had participated in the amount of games he did early in the season and scored the goals that he did you are going to miss that type of talent.
“He had an initial problem which it was felt could be treated conservatively without the need to operate.
“Eventually he needed an operation. He’s come through that and in all the rehab he’s had since then and the training sessions it hasn’t been a problem. He has not felt it, so from that point of view we can only hope and think he will make a full recovery.
“It will just be with Kaz about how quickly he can get back to the levels he was at before.”
Hughton is also relieved to have Baldock back from a nine-match absence with a thigh injury after the ex-Bristol City striker formed an effective partnership with Tomer Hemed.
“Sam fits in the same category as James Wilson, (Elvis) Manu, Bobby Zamora,” Hughton said. “There are different types of combinations but in that early part of the season it was mainly Sam and Tomer playing together.”
Hughton is in no rush to replace first team coach Nathan Jones following the Welshman’s move to Luton as manager.
He said: “It’s certainly right at this moment not a high priority for me. I’ve worked in this situation before. When I was at Newcastle it was myself and Colin (Calderwood) that worked together there.
“Of course, since then I have worked with a first team coach as well. We also have some very good coaches here, a good first team support staff in Simon Rusk, who is a very good development/under21 coach.”
Original article
The left-winger is available for tomorrow’s FA Cup tie at Hull, together with fellow long-term injury victim Sam Baldock.
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Hughton told The Argus: “It’s certainly good to have him back. Hopefully he can stay back. When you have got somebody who had participated in the amount of games he did early in the season and scored the goals that he did you are going to miss that type of talent.
“He had an initial problem which it was felt could be treated conservatively without the need to operate.
“Eventually he needed an operation. He’s come through that and in all the rehab he’s had since then and the training sessions it hasn’t been a problem. He has not felt it, so from that point of view we can only hope and think he will make a full recovery.
“It will just be with Kaz about how quickly he can get back to the levels he was at before.”
Hughton is also relieved to have Baldock back from a nine-match absence with a thigh injury after the ex-Bristol City striker formed an effective partnership with Tomer Hemed.
“Sam fits in the same category as James Wilson, (Elvis) Manu, Bobby Zamora,” Hughton said. “There are different types of combinations but in that early part of the season it was mainly Sam and Tomer playing together.”
Hughton is in no rush to replace first team coach Nathan Jones following the Welshman’s move to Luton as manager.
He said: “It’s certainly right at this moment not a high priority for me. I’ve worked in this situation before. When I was at Newcastle it was myself and Colin (Calderwood) that worked together there.
“Of course, since then I have worked with a first team coach as well. We also have some very good coaches here, a good first team support staff in Simon Rusk, who is a very good development/under21 coach.”
Original article