Carlos Corberan confirms Uros Racic and Daryl Dike status as West Brom prepare Stoke trip

The 25-year-old Serbian, who has agreed a season-long loan from Sassuolo, is set to obtain his work permit on Friday but will train over the weekend before a view to an Albion debut at home to Swansea on Saturday week.

Twelve-cap Serbia international Racic, who stands at 6ft 4in and is a natural defensive midfielder who can operate further forward, will train over the weekend and join in with team-mates next week.

Corberan also confirmed to the Express & Star at his pre-Stoke press conference on Friday morning that Racic is the final of Albion's overseas players who do not meet the GBE (Governing Body Endorsement) work permit points-based criteria (ESC, European Sports Charter players).

Racic, Torbjorn Heggem, Ousmane Diakite and Gianluca Frabotta, all recruits from this summer, fill Albion's four-man limit for players who don't have the necessary 15 points to become ESC players.

While Racic played in a top European division – Italy's Serie A with Sassuolo – last season, he did not feature in the necessary matches, more than 30 per cent, to qualify for ESC. Albion therefore have no further places in the squad for a player who doesn't reach the 15-point ESC criteria.

"Unfortunately he still needs to finalise his work permit and the visa, so during this morning he will finalise," Corberan said. "Normally the process takes 24 hours, this is just how long the work permit takes, so he still cannot train with the group.

"The idea for us is to finalise this and to for him to train tomorrow (Saturday). He can train individually, hopefully Sunday too, and then he will be ready for next week.

"In terms of physical condition he is fine because he made the necessary pre-season with Sassuolo. He was playing their friendly games.

"It's normal, that when the players are about to sign, they don't train in their proper conditions in the last days before, because of travel and this process can take a bit of time."

"Now, we need to finalise the process, so that he can train the next week and we can prepare him for the next game."

Corberan confirmed of his overseas status: "He is the final one. With Sassuolo he didn't play the 30 per cent of the minutes. With him, we have completed the four gaps with the players who have made these spaces."

Racic, who joins Alex Mowatt, Jayson Molumby, Diakite and John Swift as senior midfield options, has represented clubs including Red Star Belgrade, Valencia and Braga in his career, as well as the Serbia national side.

Albion's boss admitted the midfielder has not enjoyed the progress, or certainly the minutes of action, that he might have expected of late.

"I know his background, because he played at Valencia," added the head coach. "He was a player then with a lot of potential, and sometimes the career doesn't grow according to the expectations in the first years of the professional football career.

"He has with the passing of years played less than he probably expected to play. He has arrived in a moment where he wants to give one step in his career.

"He wants to show that he is better than the minutes he has played before, that's probably the reason of the loan. We commit with any loan to give our best, to help the players develop and we understand that's the reason they come here."

Albion's bill of health continues to encourage with just striker Daryl Dike on the treatment table – though the United States international made a big step forward this week as he joined in with Albion's physical coaches, the next stage of his rehab process that will take around one month.

Corberan then confirmed the striker could integrate with his squad. Elsewhere fellow attackers Jed Wallace and Grady Diangana, who both returned from the bench against Leeds last weekend, will reach full fitness on the other side of the international break beginning after next weekend.

"Both will be in a better condition to start after the international break," Corberan said. "Then it depends about your feeling with the other players and your decision, but I understand that after three more weeks (international break after Swansea) they will be in a better condition if they keep training like they are now.

"In terms of players to recover it's Dike. He is making his process and during the next month he will be with the physical coaches. That is positive news. It started two days ago but will take around one month before he can integrate with the group."