Blues boss Paul Hurst says midfielder Tom Adeyemi will have to “grit his teeth” and get back to training as he believes the 26-year-old is in danger of having another injury-hit campaign.
Adeyemi, who joined the Blues last summer after being released by Cardiff following a successful season on loan at Rotherham, made only four starts and one sub appearance last season with illness and injury hampering him in pre-season and at the start of a campaign before a recurring hamstring problem saw his 2017/18 end in October.
The former Norwich youngster was back in training at the start of pre-season and played in the friendly against Kilmarnock in Spain but hasn't featured since.
"It’s an achilles,” Hurst said, explaining that the current injury isn’t related to last year’s long-term problem.
"Tom, because I think he’s had so many injuries, he finds it difficult to get back out there and as far as I’m concerned it’s getting to a point where he’s going to have to grit his teeth and get on with it.
"As harsh as that may sound, he’s at risk of just having another season already of not playing enough football and he’s missed far too much already. Hopefully we can get him back out there and he can stay fit.”
Does he believe the injuries have made Adeyemi over-cautious and wary of returning to training too quickly and exacerbating the problem? "There’s obviously something there, but at the end of the day there’s another player in the squad that’s got something very similar who has trained every day, so I want him to get out there.
"We all have different pain thresholds, I understand that, but I’m wanting people that I can rely on, that we’re going to go to war with.
"When he first dropped out my understanding was that he was just going to miss a couple of days but I haven’t seen him back out on the training pitch yet. I’m wanting to get him back out there if he’s going to be part of the plans.”
Asked whether the physios have said Adeyemi’s all right to get back out there, Hurst added: "Almost, but like I say it’s difficult because they’re not feeling that pain. But, at the same time, like I say, we’ve got a player with a very similar issue and hasn’t missed a day’s training.”