CHARLIE Mulgrew is aiming to hand Blackburn Rovers a fitness boost after the international break.

But Rovers boss Coyle insists he will not rush the deadline day signing back into action before he is ready.

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Mulgrew has been sidelined since coming off with a calf injury on his debut for the club in the 1-1 draw at QPR on September 10.

But the Scotland international midfielder is hoping to return to full training this week along with the team-mates who have remained behind at Brockhall.

Should midfielder Mulgrew come through the sessions he will be considered for selection in a behind-closed-doors encounter scheduled for Tuesday.

That would be a lift to Coyle whose side resume their Championship programme at home to Ipswich Town on Saturday week.

But the Rovers boss has made it clear the versatile Mulgrew will not be thrust back into the team too soon.

Coyle said: “Charlie is on his way back. He’s trained with the medical staff but he’s not trained with the group yet. However I’m hopeful he can start to step up and get some training and build himself up.

“And if he does that, like in the last international break, there’s going to be a closed-doors game which Charlie might be available for.

“That would certainly be our plan at the moment but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.

“But if everything falls into place, coming out of the international break, Charlie wouldn’t be too far away from stepping in and playing.

“That being said we’ve got a lot of important games coming up and we’ve got to make sure he doesn’t just come in for one or two games, but he comes in for the duration, because you can see the quality he will bring.

“He’s got tremendous quality and he’ll be an important player in the squad when he’s fit and available.”

Rovers go into the break on the back of a 1-0 loss at Birmingham City on Saturday which left them third from bottom.

And Coyle, who also has centre-back Elliott Ward and right-back Adam Henley on the sidelines, said: “You never want to go into a break on the back of a defeat. It’s not a nice feeling.

“But it will allow one or two a chance to get that little bit fresher and hopefully it will allow players like Charlie to get closer to playing games again.”

Anthony Stokes has now recovered from the knee injury which he sustained on the eve of the trip to QPR and last night played for Rovers Under-23s in their Checkatrade Trophy clash at Carlisle United.

But Coyle will have to keep an eye on the fitness of Stokes’ fellow forwards Danny Graham and Marvin Emnes.

The duo came off against Birmingham along with midfielder Corry Evans who has now joined up with the Northern Ireland squad.

Coyle said: “Danny had tweaked his groin in the first half and Marvin had been whacked two or three times. I think it could have been dealt with better from an official’s point of view. He was targeted from the start of the game.

“In the second half he was limping for 10 minutes. We were hoping he could run it off because he is an important player but it was getting to the point he was barely able to walk.

“Corry has played a lot of games and he’s obviously protective of his groin, where he has had the injury before, so we had to look after that.”