Stoke City assistant manager Mark Bowen believes loan signing Philipp Wollscheid will be immediately available for Premier League action.
The 25-year old German centre-back has joined the Potters from Bayer Leverkusen for the remainder of the season with the view to a permanent deal and will report to training for the first time on Wednesday morning.
Wollscheid spent time on loan with Mainz earlier this season, making five appearances of which the most recent came on December 19, and Bowen feels he should be fit enough to be in the matchday squad for Sunday's trip to Arsenal.
"Philipp will be joining us tomorrow morning for training," Bowen told BBC Radio Stoke.
"We will have to assess his fitness, although he's been playing fairly regularly (on loan) for Mainz.
"We expect him to be not far away from match fitness.
"He's coming to a new group of players, so we will have to take a view on his progress and on his starting in our first team."
