Bojan ready to return and expects to be even better

Mark Holmes
Bojan: Closing in on full fitness for Stoke City

Bojan: Closing in on full fitness for Stoke City

Bojan feels ready to return for Stoke City and believes he will be even better than last season once up and running again.

Bojan was in sensational form for Stoke last season when his campaign was cut short by a cruciate ligament injury suffered in an FA Cup win at Rochdale in January.

He recovered in time to join his team-mates for pre-season training, though, and made his first Premier League appearance of the season as a substitute in the 2-0 defeat at Arsenal over the weekend.

He is likely to be involved again when Stoke host Leicester City at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday but is not just targeting a return to the form he showed before his injury.

“No, my intention is to even improve further and give even more,” he told IBTimes UK.

“My long spell on the sidelines helped me think a lot ahead of the new campaign. That’s the good part of an injury, it strengthens you in many ways. Now I have to find a way to get to 100% fitness ahead of performing at the highest level to help my team.

“I feel very good. I was looking forward to returning to action in a league game and now I have to seize minutes to regain my best form. A player needs to play to perform well and that’s what I have to look at right now.

“I believe I am ready because players are always like that. We always want to play, and if the manager tells me to play I would give my best, but let’s see.

“The truth is I feel well, but the pre-season has been different to other years. I can’t complain because my recovery has gone great, but now I need to rediscover that feeling on the pitch too. I need to feel like I am important part of the team, if I get that the goals will come.”

Stoke have taken just two points from their opening five league games, and Bojan has stressed the importance of win against Leicester and then Bournemouth, also at home, the following weekend.

“We have had a bad run,” Bojan added. “The points we have are not the ones we deserve if you see the quality players we have in the squad. We have to break this bad streak as soon as possible, as it is forcing us to play with too much pressure. The squad we have has what it takes to overcome this situation and move on,

“We have two very difficult games upcoming that we have an obligation to win. We play at home and we have to get three points but it will not be easy. Leicester have had a good start to the season, they have signed good players and it is never easy to face a team with an Italian boss.

“Right now the target is to leave the bottom of the table, find stability and then progress. The aim is obviously to be back in the top ten, but we have to be realistic about the position we are now in.”