Stoke striker Bojan Krkic is hoping to be fit for the start of the new domestic season.

The 24-year-old Spaniard suffered a cruciate ligament injury at the end of January, abruptly ending what had been a promising first season in English football.

"I feel better, it's been four and a half months from that knee injury," Bojan told Italian newspaper Corriere Dello Sport.

"Now I'm enhancing muscle tone and I hope to return in time for the start of the season."

"Before the injury I was playing with continuity in a competitive league - and thanks to Mark Hughes (Stoke manager) finally I was used in my role, not like in Italy," added Bojan, who has also played for Milan, Roma and Ajax.

"I am a striker or at least a playmaker behind the front man, certainly not a wide man.

"But with Rome and Milan, I was only playing on the wings.

"I can do it, I did do it, but it's not the same thing."