Chris Davies has ruled Paik Seung-ho out of Birmingham City’s two games at St Andrew’s this week.
Paik, a South Korean midfielder, has been dealing with a niggle for some weeks and missed the Blues’ win over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
Davies has announced Paik will not play against Preston North End on Tuesday or Queens Park Rangers over the weekend.
“He’s still going to be unavailable for these next two,” Davies said. “We’ll see after that. “Hopefully, he will recover.”
Max Bird, Demarai Grey, and Taylor Gardner-Hickman returned as substitutes in the Blues’ 1-0 victory at The Hawthorns.
Davies feels Bird and Grey are close to starting matches.
“Max is doing well,” the Blues manager stated. “He’s very close to being able to start a match, but it would be wonderful if he could accumulate a few more minutes, and the same goes for Dimmy.
“They are certainly able to (start), but what I want is for them to be able to play with intensity during the first 60 minutes of a match. They’re probably barely shy of that right now.
Gardner-Hickman’s pre-season was cut short by an injury in the Blues’ third friendly encounter, forcing him to miss three months of play.
The 24-year-old played his first Blues game in almost a year on Saturday, having spent last season on loan at Blackburn Rovers, and given his flexibility, he might see plenty of action between now and January.
Davies intends to allow Gardner-Hickman time to regain his fitness following a lengthy injury layoff.
He continued, “In an emergency, he would have to play and start a game, but he is not physically prepared to do so. He’ll take several weeks. I didn’t expect to have to use him so soon, but he’s recovered, trained well, and is ready to play.
“Taylor is one of those extremely good professionals you know who gives his all every day in rehab. He will have given his all during his return-to-play workouts.
“With him, I had almost no doubt that he would be physically and intellectually prepared. He knows me well; I’ve used him in a variety of roles – that was another new one, number ten – and he’s just a player who will do the job you ask.”
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