Garry Monk cannot wait for the return of Cheikh Ndoye to first-team action. The 32-year-old was involved in the World Cup 2018 with the Senegal national team. Even though Senegal failed to progress past the group stages, it still meant plenty of action in the summer forNdoye. As a result, he has been given extended time in order to complete his holidays. Ndoye was involved in the games against Poland and Japan, while he did feature in the warmup game against Croatia just before the start of the tournament.

Birmingham City manager Garry Monk is preparing for his first full campaign with the club. He was appointed towards the end of last season and he helped the club stay in the Championship. Now, Monk is looking to get the club away from the relegation battle and closer to the play-off places. The club have so far been quite muted in terms of the transfer activity, as they have only brought in Kristian Pedersen for anything involving a transfer fee. Several players have left Birmingham on a free transfer. Crucially,Ndoye’s return to first-team action will be important for Birmingham since he provides the team with a large dose of confidence.

The club have a long list of friendly matches before they kick off the new campaign with a home game against Norwich City.“When I have worked with World Cup boys at Swansea, generally what I try and do when they have had their World Cup – and obviously he has participated really well, which we are proud of, is give them the that down time.He has had a two week period from when his game finished and he will join us when we come back from Austria back at the training ground,” said Garry Monk ahead of the new campaign.