Mark Hughes has played down suggestions that Jack Butland may return to the Stoke first-team fold as soon as possible after his injury nightmare was finally brought to an end.
The Potters shot stopper received the welcome news that the troublesome ankle injury, that has sidelined Butland for almost a year, was healed and that he could resume full training with his team-mates.
In his absence, however, Lee Grant has impressed for Stoke - initially on loan before he completed a permanent move from Derby in January - and his form led Hughes to hint that Butland faced a fight to reclaim his starting berth from the 33-year-old.
He told the Daily Mail: "We're pleased Jack's at a point where it looks, hopefully, like it's not a false dawn this time and we can really look forward to him being back available for selection.
"At that point, we'll have a discussion, but Lee's done exceptionally well. We're delighted with what he's produced."
Hughes did go on to state that there may be opportunities for Butland to stake a claim for his place back in the starting lineup before the season ends, but remarked that a full return may have to wait until pre-season as the club plot the best course of action to take for the 23-year-old, who has already suffered one setback from the lengthy lay-off.
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He added: "If we feel there's an option to maybe give Jack the opportunity to have games before the end of the season, whether or not we take it, or think 'let's make sure he's right for pre-season'...
'There's any number of options that may well be open to us, but until we see him progressing and working on the training ground on a regular basis, we really haven't got an answer to that."
Butland was Stoke's undisputed number one throughout the 2015/16 campaign, and played every single minute of Premier League football for the Bet365 Stadium-based side before being blighted by the malleolar problem.
The former Birmingham keeper suffered an ankle injury while on international duty with England against Germany in March 2016, and has been on the treatment table ever since.
Butland had been on course to return earlier this season before he damaged the same ankle back in December, while football's world governing body paid the Potters just £2m in compensation for picking up the injury while away with his national side.
Butland took to Twitter on Monday, however, to reveal that doctors had given him the all-clear to step up his rehabilitation after finding that his ankle had finally fully healed, and the England international will now have his sights sets on getting back to the level he was at before his 12-month spell out of the game.
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