West Brom manager Valerien Ismael has suggested that Kenneth Zohore remains a part of his plans for this season and has been absent recently due to injury issues.

The forward was deemed surplus to requirements at the Hawthorns last term and he spent time away out on loan with Millwall in the Championship. That spell saw him manage to make 17 league appearances and score two goals in the process for the Lions.

However, Zohore started the campaign in and around West Brom’s squad with the forward looked to have been offered a lifeline at the Hawthorns by Ismael following his arrival from Barnsley.

That saw Zohore be handed game time off the bench by Ismael in West Brom’s opening day draw at Bournemouth. While he also came on in their narrow 3-2 win against Luton Town with the Baggies’ having been 3-0 up prior to his introduction.

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Since then, Zohore has yet to make an appearance for West Brom in the league and the arrival of Jordan Hugill has placed him further down the pecking order in the squad.

Speaking to Birmingham Live ahead of West Brom’s trip to Cardiff City, Ismael revealed though that Zohore remains a part of his plans at the moment. While he also explained that his recent omissions have been down to issues with injuries and he needs to build fitness before returning.

He said: “He has been injured in the last few weeks. He is a West Brom player so it doesn’t change anything with our thoughts on Ken.

“He was injured so for a few weeks he was out. He needs to get back his fitness now and he needs to get the confidence of having his fitness back, but when Ken is 100 per cent fit we know we have another possibility in our front three with him.”

The verdict

These comments outline that there remains a little bit of hope for Zohore at West Brom at the moment. It had been looking like his days at the Hawthorns could be numbered after he has not been seen in the league since he came off the bench against Luton.

West Brom are not blessed with forward options though and that is why Ismael is perhaps keeping the door open for him to potentially come back into the fold when he make a return to full fitness in the near future.

Zohore though in the long-term does not seem to have much of a chance of ever establishing himself as a crucial player for the Baggies. He has had a few chances and he has just not been able to show enough with his performances when he has featured for West Brom.

A solution needs to be found really for Zohore in the winter window, but until then it is wise to keep him as part of the squad in case West Brom suffer any injury issues to their options that are ahead of him.