Bojan Krkic will travel with Stoke City to Singapore for the Barclays Asia Trophy pre-season tournament.

The Spanish forward suffered a cruciate ligament injury in an FA Cup tie at Rochdale in January and was not expected to be back in training until later this month.

However, the former Barcelona man is well ahead in his recovery and according to Potters assistant Mark Bowen, will make the trip to Asia to continue his rehabilitation.

"We didn't really expect to see him on the first day, we thought it might be a week or 10 days but he's come in with a smile on his face and he's looking a million dollars," Bowen told the Stoke Sentinel.

"You just have this thing at the back of your mind that you have to keep a lid on him because the expectations from us all - fans, media, staff, players – we can't wait for him to come back.

"We still have to protect him - and from himself at times, because he'd want to pull his boots and the red and white stripes on next Wednesday against Everton if he could.

"You've just got to make sure that when he does come back, he's back for good.

"At this stage we have to be very careful of non-contact, even if people are accidentally bumping into him, but he's getting there."

Stoke take on Premier League rivals Everton in their Asia Trophy opener on July 15 before meeting Arsenal or a Singapore Select XI three days later depending on results.