‘Next week he’ll start’ – Slaven Bilic delivers positive injury update on senior WBA ace
Slaven Bilic has confirmed that West Brom defender Ahmed Hegazi will return to the side for the Carabao Cup clash with Brentford.
The Egyptian international has been missing from the first two games of the campaign with a hamstring problem after a tough pre-season.
That has forced Dara O’Shea to be the only player to feature against both Leicester and Harrogate, with his run expected to continue against Everton.
Bilic revealed that the report on Hegazi’s injury has come back positive and that the injury was ‘minimal’ for the defender.
“It’s not bad,” he said. “We’ve had the report and it’s minimal – next week he’ll start, which is good news.”
With the Baggies reverting to three-at-the-back this season, it is pivotal that Bilic has all his defenders available to him.
The Croatian has a number of different options at the Hawthorns, with both Branislav Ivanovic and Cedric Kipre adding real depth.
Bilic now has six central defenders at the club, and that has raised serious question marks over the future of Hegazi, especially.
Steve Madeley of the Athletic, labelled the experienced enforcer as the “most obvious” senior player to be on the chopping block this summer after other clubs had confirmed their interest.
Express and Star journalist Joseph Masi then claimed this week that he has been told that the 29-year-old is going nowhere – meaning this is a real chance to impress.
Should Hegazi help keep an exciting Brentford side quiet, he will have a real opportunity of featuring in the Premier League clash with Chelsea only days after.
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