IT is not guaranteed that Martin Caceres will get his long-awaited Saints debut before the end of the season, according to Claude Puel.

The former Juventus and Barcelona centre-back arrived as a free agent in February, but has been restricted to just a couple of appearances for the under-23s.

Maya Yoshida and Jack Stephens have formed a decent partnership at the back for Saints and Puel has been impressed by their performances.

That has left the 30-year-old without any first-team action, despite being brought in at high cost to bolster the ranks in injured Virgil van Dijk’s absence.

But with the schedule busying up, with Saints facing seven games in just over three weeks, Caceres could yet feature.

“Yes,” Puel replied when asked if Caceres might not play at all, “but it’s one game a week [at the moment] and we will see because we’ve got to play the two games that have been postponed and that will mean playing every three days until the end of the season.

“It’s always a competition and Maya Yoshida and Jack Stephens can do good work together and are strong.

“It’s competition also, Caceres is a good player with a good training session and I think he’s going to have opportunities until the end of the season.

“But it’s all about competition and I’m happy with the work of Jack and Maya.”

Ahead of tonight’s Premier League game at Chelsea, Puel revealed that Jeremy Pied and Sam McQueen (both groin) are out injured, but should recover in time for the Hull game at St Mary’s on Saturday.

Meanwhile, long-term absentees Charlie Austin and Matt Targett will return to training with the squad this week.

“His first training session will be on Thursday,” Puel said about top-scorer Austin, who has been out since early December with a dislocated shoulder.

“It’s important he finds his level and his quality and perhaps he will play with the under-23s for their last game against Manchester City.

“We will see if he can play this game. It will be a good thing and a good opportunity for him.”