West Brom AFCON duo to be assessed as defender timeframe revealed and M'Vila update given

The pair were both last available to Carlos Corberan and their club on January 1 before they jetted off to Ivory Coast to compete in the African Cup of Nations, where Diangana helped DR Congo to the semi-final and Ajayi's Nigeria made the final, but lost to the hosts.

Corberan wanted both players back and available for selection against Cardiff on Tuesday night, but it transpired the duo visited their nations to acknowledge their achievements in the tournament.

Diangana was in transit back to the UK overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, with Ajayi working to a slightly later timeframe. The former is set to meet back up with team-mates today (Wednesday) while the hope is Ajayi will train tomorrow in a bid to ease his club's defensive availability concerns.

"I wanted to involve both, if you ask me," Corberan said of their omission from Tuesday's 2-0 victory over Cardiff.

"The national teams have made something important for their countries, they have each travelled to their countries to receive (from) the presidents of their countries and to travel here.

"We want both for the next game but there are things we cannot control and we need to wait. I want (for Friday), hopefully yes, because if both are here both strengthen our squad."

Corberan added: "We expect tomorrow (Wednesday) to have Grady back during the day, with training in the afternoon. He will spend all the (Tuesday) night travelling – so let's see in which condition he arrives and he will make Thursday training.

"With Semi, he will arrive after tomorrow, let's see, but training on Thursday is in the afternoon, probably he will train, but after that I will make a decision.

"Both, if they come on time, will be available, then the decision if they can start or not will depend on how quick they are (here) and how they are."

The boss confirmed Kyle Bartley's calf complaint will result in an absence of 10 to 20 days, dependent on the opinion of a second specialist the club are currently seeking.

Bartley was withdrawn at half-time against Ipswich last weekend and missed out against the Bluebirds. He is likely to miss upcoming fixtures against Southampton on Friday and back-to-back away trips to Plymouth and Hull next week, but could potentially return for the visit of Coventry on Friday, March 1.

Corberan opted to hand a rare league start to 35-year-old Erik Pieters alongside Cedric Kipre in the back four against Cardiff and the Dutchman barely put a foot wrong in helping his side record a 14th clean sheet in 31 league games. The head coach assessed his performance, in a first Championship start since October 30, as "extraordinary".

Albion are, meanwhile, still working on concluding the free transfer signing of French midfielder Yann M'Vila.

Corberan revealed the club are hoping for a breakthrough in finalising the experienced midfielder's visa on Wednesday as the head coach stocks his midfield with another option after the season-ending injury to Jayson Molumby.

M'Vila, 33, has been without a club since leaving Olympiacos last summer. He briefly played under Corberan at the Greek giants and was a regular until his departure.

"Still we are in the same point," Corberan said of the approach. "The club is working on it, but there is no update. Hopefully Wednesday we know something more in detail because it is one position we wanted to strength with the injury to Molumby."