West Brom's James Morrison in lengthy wait

The Scotland international is yet to kick a ball for Irvine after summer knee surgery and has already been ruled out of Saturday's Premier League opener against Sunderland.

And Irvine admits he still does not know when the 28-year-old will be available again despite a return to light training at the end of last week.

"It's a big concern that Morrison hasn't trained all summer," admitted Irvine, who also looks set to be without Joleon Lescott and Gareth McAuley through injury at the weekend.

"He's an important player for us and we could have done with him being with us for pre-season. Unfortunately he had an operation just before pre-season started and sadly it's taken him an awful lot longer to get back than was anticipated.

"It's a big disappointment because we could do with all our best players being fit and available.

"Clearly, when you miss a pre-season, it becomes difficult to catch up.

"He joined in the early part of training on Friday, but I think I could have taken part in that part if training!

"Then he went away and did his own work (with physios).

"The boys that have done pre-season have been in for five-and-a-half weeks and there isn't a short cut to getting fit and ready for games.

"He's a fit lad, which is a real bonus.

"But it's going to be a big, big task for him to get up to his maximum and best condition quickly."

Irvine could have full-backs Cristian Gamboa and Jason Davidson and record signing Brown Ideye available on Saturday but they are not expected to be fit enough to start. Davidson began training on Thursday while Ideye joined in on Saturday but Gamboa is still awaiting receipt of his visa before being allowed to join his team-mates.

Brighton wideman Will Buckley, who was linked with the club yesterday, is not a target.