Central defender Jason De Vos has emerged as a doubt for Saturday's season opener with Cardiff City at Portman Road. The former Canadian international suffered a dead leg in a collision in training yesterday.

Boss Joe Royle says that the former Wigan man will be given every opportunity to recover: "Jason suffered a dead leg in training and at the moment he has to be a doubt for tomorrow.

"He is in the squad and we will give him all the time he needs before deciding on the side before kick-off."

De Vos's possible absence means that Northern Irish youngster Chris Casement is called into the squad and has been handed the number 16 shirt. Fellow academy centre-half Aidan Collins might have got the call ahead of Casement but picked up an injury in the reserve friendly at Canvey Island last week.

The Canadian has usually recovered in time or played through injuries in the past and is expected to be OK. De Vos, who will make his 50th Town appearance if he plays, will be assessed on Saturday morning but if he misses out, Fabian Wilnis could switch to centre-half with new signing Sito perhaps making an unexpected start.

The Spaniard, who consulted and received a thumbs-up from former Blue Pablo Couñago before agreeing to sign for Town, is short of match fitness and had been pencilled in for extra training this weekend. But if Wilnis fills in alongside Richard Naylor, the former Racing Club Ferrol player could make his debut at right-back with Matt Richards on the left.

Royle says there is still a chance that Town's new number 15 won't be available for the game with the club still waiting on clearance from the Spanish FA: "His signing has not been completed yet and there is paperwork to be done, so it's a race against time to see if we can get it all sorted out in time."

The Town boss says that Sito, real name Luis Castro Rodríguez, needs to be fitter before he can show his full potential: "He's a very quick, very dogged defender. He is quite well known in Spain, though he is not a household name here.

"You saw in the game against Atlético he can defend but, equally, he's not very fit and had only done seven days training when he played in that game."

The Town manager has a number of choices in midfield with Jimmy Juan and Owen Garvan both impressing in pre-season. Juan, who is over a twisted ankle sustained at Colchester on Tuesday, looks likely to get the nod ahead of Garvan and Kevin Horlock in the centre of midfield and will make his debut alongside Jim Magilton.

The Town skipper, in his last season before going into coaching, has so far escaped a ban after his red card in Hungary. The FA are yet to receive a report from their Hungarian counterparts and it looks increasingly likely that one will not be forthcoming.

Darren Currie and Ian Westlake are expected to start on the right and left of midfield respectively.

Jaime Peters will be on the bench and will probably still be jet-lagged after joining up with the Blues from Canada earlier in the week. Despite this, the 18-year-old put in a bright performance for the reserves at Dagenham and Redbridge on Wednesday.

Up front, new boys Sam Parkin and Nicky Forster will be hoping to get in the goals early on in the season after signing from Swindon and Reading over the summer. Forster is over the thigh injury which kept him out of a number of pre-season games.

Dean McDonald will be in the bench with Dean Bowditch missing out due to the foot injury he sustained in Hungary.

Royle says it is difficult to assess how opponents Cardiff will fare this season: "They have a new manager with virtually a new team."

The Town boss also feels the division as a whole is largely unpredictable: "It is too early to say who will or won't be there from the grey area of the division.

"It is safe to assume Norwich and Crystal Palace, who came down stronger than they went up, Leeds, who for a club with no money seem to have two squads and Sheffield United have been spending freely."

The summer saw a great deal of change at Ninian Park with Tony Vidmar, Jobi McAnuff, James Collins, Danny Gabbidon, Darren Williams, Lee Bullock and Peter Thorne all leaving.

In their stead Dave Jones has brought in former Sunderland man Jeff Whitley, who worked under Joe Royle at Manchester City, Neil Cox and Jermaine Darlington (Watford), Glenn Loovens (Feyenoord), new skipper Darren Purse and Jason Koumas (WBA), Andrea Ferretti (Parma), Phil Mulryne (Norwich) and Kevin Cooper (Wolves).

Jones is expected to hand debuts to Purse, Cox, Darlington, Koumas and Whitley but is without youngster Joe Ledley who has a leg injury.

The former Southampton and Wolves boss says his side will be competitive this season despite being labelled as also-rans: "We've been written off - but I expect us to go into every game with the attitude that we can get something from it.

"This is a really tough division. There are always one or two dark horses and hopefully we'll be one of them.

"With the players we've brought to the club and the ones we've kept, I expect us to do well.

"My philosophy as a manager is to always aim high. If you start looking at just staying up and finishing fourth-bottom then you might miss out by one place!

"We've attracted some big names here so we must be up there with the big clubs. We've brought in a mixture of young and experienced players. I feel you need experience at this level. They're all quality players."

Saturday's referee is Kevin Friend from Leicestershire who showed 107 yellow and seven red cards in 37 games last season. This will be Friend's third year as a Football League official and has not previously taken control of the Blues.

Squad: Price, Supple, Wilnis, De Vos, Naylor, Casement, Sito, Richards, Magilton, Juan, Currie, Westlake, Garvan, Horlock, Peters, Parkin, Forster, McDonald.

Photo: Action Images

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