Graham Potter has confirmed that Tariq Lamptey returned to full training on Thursday but says he will make a late call over the full-back’s fitness ahead of Brighton’s trip to Crystal Palace.
Lamptey, 20, who completed a move from Chelsea to Brighton back in January, has emerged as one of the Premier League’s breakout stars after an outstanding start to the season on the south coast.
However, Lamptey was forced off with a hamstring injury at half-time during the Seagulls’ 4-2 defeat at Everton two weekends ago and the club have been making regular checks on the youngster over the international break.
And though Lamptey would usually be one of the first names on Brighton’s teamsheet, Potter is reluctant to rush the England Under-21 international back to action before he’s fully ready.
Asked about the club’s injury concerns at his pre-match press conference, Brighton boss Potter said: ‘They are all making good progress.
‘Tariq trained today so we will see how he responds to that.
‘Jose [Izquierdo] has been training with the group and he benefitted from some game time with the Under-23’s, so we might see if we can do the same this weekend, but he has benefitted from being with the group.
‘With Davy [Propper] we just wanted to take it easy with him and make sure he has got the training and he has recovered from his issues.
‘So he has trained this week as well and we will see what the reaction is towards the back of the week before we make a decision over the weekend.’
Palace also head into the match on the back of a poor run of form after losing to both Everton and Chelsea before the international break.
