Stoke City chief executive Tony Scholes is happy to see Bojan Krkic make a quick recovery.

Bojan suffered a serious knee injury back in January and it was feared at the time that the striker would miss out on at least a year of action.

However as a huge boost, Stoke chief Scholes has given an update on Bojan's recovery progress and has stated that the Spaniard could be in line to make an earlier than anticipated return to the pitch.

Scholes told the Stoke Sentinel: "It was good to see him go out on to the pitch before and after the Liverpool game and part of the reason for coming back was to see the crowd and see his team-mates. The other part was so that our medical team could assess the status of his recovery – and they are very pleased.

"We felt when he was injured that he could be out for nine months, so whether or not he will be ready for the start of the season I'm not sure. It is still too early to tell yet, but certainly we will see him back in pre-season training."