INIGO Idiakez should make his long-awaited return to Championship action against Scunthorpe this weekend.
The Saints midfielder has not featured for the first team since the 5-0 drubbing at Sheffield Wednesday exactly two months ago today.
But boss George Burley is tempted to play the Spaniard against Scunthorpe, who were playing League Two football in 2004/05 when Saints were in the top flight but who now sit just six points adrift of them.
Idiakez came through Tuesday's reserve win against Millwall and showed no after-effects of the Achilles problem that has sidelined him.
With Youssef Safri now away on African Cup of Nations duty, Idiakez could return to central midfield.
Burley said: "That was Inigo's first game for eight weeks but he's been training for a week so will certainly be in contention for a place on Saturday.
"He was playing very well before he was injured so with Youssef unavailable it's very timely."
Idiakez isn't a ready-made replacement for Safri, though - more likely, Jhon Viafara would adopt the defensive midfielder role Safri has made his own with Idiakez the more attack-minded of the central pair.
Andrew Surman and Jason Euell would continue to play on the left and right of midfield respectively.
Should Viafara not be available again - he missed last weekend's FA Cup win over Leicester due to family problems in his native Columbia - Jermaine Wright is another option.
Burley deployed the former Ipswich man in a defensive midfielder role for virtually the whole of last season, yet Wright has only been used as a full-back this term.
Burley, meanwhile, has shot down rumours that Viafara will be sold for £1m, with Sheffield United and Coventry reported to be interested.
He also dismissed reports of a £750,000 bid for Peterborough United striker George Boyd - saying the need to complete the £1m signing of loan defender Andrew Davies is taking priority over everything else at the moment.
Full story: See today's Daily Echo.
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