Roy Keane says striker Pablo Couñago will not be in the squad for Saturday’s game at Middlesbrough. The Spaniard has spent much of pre-season in the reserves and was only a sub in Tuesday’s friendly with a Spurs XI.
The Blues boss confirmed that the 30-year-old isn’t injured but says he won’t travel to Teesside: "Pablo won’t be involved this weekend.”
Keane says he assesses players on what he sees from them in games and at Playford Road: "[I judge them] from what I see on the training pitch every day and what I see in matches. I judge my players on what I see on the training pitch.
"Players’ attitudes, desire to do well, hunger to train, passion for the game, heart, so he won’t be involved this weekend.”
Former Spain U21 international Couñago is understood to be a target of former Blues boss George Burley at Crystal Palace.
Meanwhile, Keane has revealed that Connor Wickham could be back slightly sooner than the six weeks initially expected when he picked up his ankle injury in training: "I’ve always worked along the lines that if someone says six or seven weeks I knock a week off that, particularly with a young boy.”
The Blues boss says the England U17 international is on holiday at present: "Connor’s away at the moment with his parents in Spain having a week off. Hopefully when he comes back from there with a bit of a tan, feeling better in himself and having had a bit of salt water on his foot, we may be able to knock a week or two off that, without being daft.”
Story syndicated from TWTD.co.uk