Blackburn Rovers manager Steve Kean has insisted that Christopher Samba will return to first-team action for the relegation strugglers.

Samba has not appeared for Rovers since he handed in a tranfer request during January.

"He trained really well on Monday, he's been around the place but what happened and what was said in the window he can put behind him," Kean claimed.

Despite Kean's insistence that the defender will return, Samba has suffered a hamstring injury that will force him out of contention for the next couple of weeks.

"We want to get Chris back on the pitch and make sure he's in the proper physical state," the manager continued.

"I'm sure once we can get this injury he's got cleared up he'll be back on the pitch with the reserves to get some minutes under his belt because we want to get him back as quickly as possible."

Rovers are currently 19th in the Premier League.