Tony Mowbray was overcome by a mixture of surprise and concern when he discovered that Robert Koren had been called up to the Slovenia squad.
Mowbray, the Albion manager, has been unable to name Koren in a starting line-up so far because the midfield player is still recovering from an eye injury.
But the Slovenian national team, who face relatively meaningless matches against Luxembourg on Saturday and against Belarus next Wednesday, take a different view.
There is no indication yet that Slovenia plan to use Koren but Mowbray is hoping that the player's international coaches will consider the extent of the eye injury and the risks involved.
Koren is one of six Albion players on international duty. Craig Beattie, Pele, Chris Brunt, Carl Hoefkens, Zoltan Gera are also away, giving Mowbray a multitude of potential injury problems.
For those left behind, the work continues as Albion prepare for their match against Ipswich Town on September 15.
Jonathan Greening, the Albion captain, is among those missing out on international football this month.
"It's always quiet during the international breaks," Greening said. "But the players that are left behind do a lot of work while the other lads are away. We have hard training sessions where we do a lot of running.
"The last international break was probably one of the hardest week's training we've had.
"We trained, did weights, lots of running and in the next game I felt very fit.
"You need to keep on top of your fitness, especially in this league because there are that many games. We'll all be strengthening ourselves up, have the weekend off and then, once the lads are back next week, we'll look forward to the game.
"The gaffer is really into his fitness and when we train in the mornings we always do running sessions at the end." n Coventry City have moved to quash rumours manager Iain Dowie has been asked to take over at Leicester.
Speculation has been rife Leicester chairman Milan Mandaric has targeted Dowie to replace Martin Allen, who left suddenly last week.
But in a statement the club said: "Coventry City would like to confirm that it has received no approach from any club with regard to Iain Dowie.
"The club would also like to confirm that any approach would be firmly rebuffed."
