Cambridge United defenders Kell Watts and Zeno Ibsen Rossi set to return for Wigan Athletic encounter while Shayne Lavery, Gary Gardner and Josh Stokes make progress in recovery from injuries

Kell Watts is set to return to the Cambridge United squad for this weekend’s home League One clash against Wigan Athletic.

The summer signing from Newcastle United has not featured for the U’s since making his debut on the opening day of the season at Stockport County because of a hamstring injury.

However, the 24-year-old stepped up his recovery during the international break and with a run of three games in eight days on the agenda, it is a welcome boost for head coach Garry Monk as the search for a first win of the season continues.

“Kell is a quality player with good experience at this level,” said Monk. “He’s been unfortunate in terms of it being stop-start for him with picking up a couple of injuries.

“But he’s back now and he’s been training pretty much for the full international break so he’s back up for selection within the squad.

“Of course he’s not going to be at full fitness in terms of match sharpness, but you can only get that when you’re playing games.

“It’s good to have him back in because he’s a really good character among the group. And with weeks like we’ve got coming up with three games, it gives you options in terms of freshness and quality. It’s a big boost for us with him coming back in.”

Another defender in contention to face the Latics is Zeno Ibsen Rossi.

The centre-back has missed United’s previous couple of games with a back injury, but a scan has revealed no significant damage.

Monk added: “He’s fine and the scan came back good. He’s been training like normal through this international break so he’s back into the fold.”

And while their returns to action are still a few weeks away, Shayne Lavery (hamstring) and Gary Gardner (Achilles) have both restarted light training, while Josh Stokes (knee) is expected to be out on the pitches after the weekend.

Monk said: “You can’t put an exact timescale on it because when they get back out on the pitches they’ve got protocols they’ve got to go through and it’s about how they react to those protocols.

“But Shayne has been out on the pitch all week, Gary Gardner has been out this week and Stokesy is due to be out next week.

“Logically you’d probably think that in terms of full fitness you’re looking at the next international break (16 November), but if all goes well and you can accelerate it a bit quicker it might be a bit before that.

“A safe bet would probably be into that next international break that those guys will be fully available.”

Goalkeeper Vicente Reyes is also expected to be available against Wigan despite only returning from international duty with Chile today.