Express & Star

Slaven Bilic keen to get Kenneth Zohore firing again for West Brom

Slaven Bilic admits he’s pleased to have ‘major player’ Kenneth Zohore back in contention as Albion prepare to face Stoke on Monday.

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Kenneth Zohore of West Bromwich Albion applauds the travelling West Bromwich Albion Fans at the end of then match. (AMA)

The Baggies travel to the bet365 Stadium where they are likely to meet a Stoke side without a permanent manager following the sacking of Nathan Jones yesterday.

Zohore has missed Albion’s last three games with a calf problem but returned action earlier this week for the under-23s – with the forward netting both goals in a 2-0 win.

The 25-year-old picked up his injury in the match against Derby back in August.

But while he battled on for the next four games, it then got worse forcing him to have a spell on the sidelines.

“It’s good to have him (Zohore) back,” Bilic said.

“He is a major player for us. He has had an issue with his calf since the Derby game.

“And then it got a little bit worse so he had to skip a couple of games.

“But he is fit now and he scored a couple of goals which is always good for a forward.

“Everyone is together now and that’s good because it’s getting colder – you need to have a squad.

“The pitches are getting worse and worse so you need all your players.

“We don’t like it but you can expect, you can expect (injuries) so we are going to need all our players. Definitely.”

Meanwhile, Albion are now expected to confirm on Monday that Gareth Barry has rejoined the club on a deal until the end of the season.

Speaking at his press conference on Thursday, Bilic said he expected the 38-year-old to sign that day.

A delay meant the paper work was then expected to go through on Friday.

Despite those two set-backs the Express & Star understands there have been no hitches in the deal – with everything agreed between all the parties involved.

But the availability of the lawyers completing the paper led to a further delay - with an announcement now expected early next week.