Stoke City assistant manager Dean Holden says attacking midfielder Nick Powell is close to returning to full fitness, but will not feature against QPR on Saturday afternoon.

So far this season, Powell has made 16 Championship appearances for the Potters, scoring five goals and providing one assist in what has been an injury hit campaign for the 28-year-old.

Indeed, the attacking midfielder has not featured for Stoke since early March, having missed the club's last nine games with a quad injury.

Now though, it seems Powell is not far away from getting back on the pitch again, although this weekend's clash with Mark Warburton's side will come too soon for him.

Providing an update on the 28-year-old's fitness ahead of that game, Holden was quoted by Stoke's official website as saying: “Nick is in a position where he’s approaching full fitness but isn’t quite ready for tomorrow."

As things stand, Powell's contract with Stoke - which he signed when he joined in the summer of 2019 - is set to expire at the end of this season.

The Verdict

You do get the feeling that this is rather a case of too little, too late from a Stoke City perspective.

The Potters currently sit 14th in the Championship table, eight points adrift of the play-off places with just three games remaining, meaning their hopes of promotion are all but over.

You do however, feel that things could have been rather different for them, had they had the influence of Powell available to them for the entirety of the campaign.

As a result, you imagine Stoke will be desperate to secure a new deal for the 28-year-old, in the hope that he can have that kind of impact in a potential promotion push by this time next year.