Jonathan Woodgate withdrawn from Stoke City’s Europa League group games

Stoke City manager Tony Pulis has revealed that Jonathan Woodgate will not take part in the Potters' Europa League group matches because it is too far to travel.

The 31-year-old, who has been plagued with injury throughout his career, has been deemed a worry for Pulis as the Premier League side plan to travel to Turkey, Ukraine and Israel in their Europa League campaign.

“As soon as I saw where we were travelling to, it made sense,” Daily Star quotes Pulis as saying. “If we had been playing in Paris I would have included him, but these trips are way too far.

“He wants to play and he’s gutted, but it is best for him. He can come back into the squad in January if we get through to the next stage.”

The 56-year-old boss also conceded that the travelling will be “horrendous” for the Potters.

“If you look at the teams we are playing, I don’t think we are in Europe!” he added.

“We’ve got the short straw, in that the travelling distance is absolutely horrendous in lots of respects.”

Stoke take on their first Group E opponents Dynamo Kiev on Thursday.