Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has revealed that captain Ryan Shawcross is on the verge of returning to first-team action following his back surgery.

The 27-year-old defender underwent the surgery in August and is yet to make an appearance for the Potters this season but is not too far from returning to the fray.

"Ryan has trained with the younger lads which is another big step forward for him," Hughes said.

"He probably could have joined in with us, but with our minds focused on preparing for the game at the weekend we felt he would be best served working with the Academy.

"It's really encouraging to see him back out on the pitches again, and hopefully we can step it up even further in the next week or so.

"He obviously needs some game time so we will look to arrange a couple of friendly matches if we can, and then see how he goes from there."