Stoke City manager Nathan Jones has confirmed that winger Tom Ince is available for the club's season opener against QPR on Saturday afternoon.

Ince flew home early from Stoke's Dutch training camp in mid-July after suffering a recurrence of his groin injury, which means he has missed a considerable chunk of pre-season.

However, Jones has now revealed the 27-year-old will be available for selection when the Potters host Mark Warburton's side at the bet365 stadium on the weekend.

This comes despite Ince having not featured in any of Stoke's pre-season friendlies since suffering the injury which means he is lacking match fitness, and this is something Jones conceded.

Ince was a regular as the Potters slumped to a 16th-placed finish last term, making 38 appearances and scoring six goals during his first season at the club.

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The former Huddersfield man also made it clear to Jones at the end of last season that he wants to be a part of the Welshman's plans at the club.

The verdict

It will come as a boost for Jones to have Ince available, as this means Ryan Shawcross is the only player unavailable for selection on Saturday.

Ince could have a big season at Stoke this term, as all signs are pointing to him featuring in Jones' plans despite the Welshman having wrung the changes at the bet365 stadium this summer.

The winger is now entering his best years as a footballer so he will be targeting regular first-team football once again this term, and it will be interesting to see if he gets this despite increased competition in the Stoke squad.

Regardless of this, I think Jones should not push Ince too much on Saturday and should ease him back into first-team action by starting him on the bench against the Rs.