CITY plan to keep daily tabs on Callum Johnson’s progress – even though he will not be training with them in Austria.
Johnson is not with the squad in Obertraun as he recovers from the niggle he picked up during the off-season.
It is also understood that Kevin McDonald has not been included, which would confirm the suggestion that the club see his future elsewhere.
Brad Halliday, Aden Baldwin and Calum Kavanagh are all in the training camp after missing the first couple of weeks as a precaution.
Johnson, though, has stayed behind to carry on his rehab work at Apperley Bridge. First-year pro Harry Ibbitson was added to the travelling party to take his place.
But Graham Alexander can still monitor the former Mansfield defender’s progress.
“He will be with club staff on those sessions,” said the City boss. “But we get everything recorded, it’s delivered and we can keep an eye on him every single day.
“That’s the beauty of sports science and modern technology. You can still manage a player from hundreds of miles away.
“As long as you’ve got the right staff in, we’ve got all the facilities we need at the training ground.
“The medical team can assess what he’s doing and whether they need to up what’s needed or bring it down.
“It’s just a shame that Callum’s missing that time with the squad.
“If we hadn’t had the other injuries, then we’d have been able to take him.
“But because of the slight concerns of having those lads back in full level training, we need to take the extra player. I feel for him as well as us.
“We wanted to integrate him really quickly. But we don’t want to expose others to the risk of injury by taking an unfit player unfortunately.
“Callum will have a full programme while he’s staying in England and we hope to see him on the grass with us maybe the following week when we come back.”
Halliday, Baldwin and Kavanagh have upped their training levels this week and Alexander expects them to be involved fully in the three sessions a day while they are away.
He added: “All three were desperate to play some part in the behind-closed-doors game. But we thought it was all risk and no reward, so they did a separate session themselves.
“They are chomping at the bit. It will be great to add them to the group when we get down to business.
“We didn’t lose anyone from the game the other day. So apart from Callum Johnson, we’ll have a fully fit squad.”
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