Stoke City chairman Peter Coates has insisted that Peter Odemwingie can still be an "asset" to the team, despite missing a huge chunk of the season due to injury.

The 33-year-old returned to training last week after spending eight months on the sidelines with cruciate knee ligament damage.

Despite the lengthy layoff, Coates has claimed that Odemwingie still has a future in Mark Hughes's side.

"We hope to have him back playing as well as he was before his injury," The Sentinel quotes Coates as saying.

"I've had some encouraging reports about him from the training ground and I am certainly optimistic for him. He will be an asset for us if we get him back playing for Stoke City, and that is certainly the intention."

Odemwingie joined Stoke from Cardiff City last year.