Alou Diarra could still play a part in Albion’s relegation fight – despite the resignation as manager of former Liverpool colleague Sami Hyypia.

The 33-year-old French midfield trialist continued to train with the Seagulls yesterday as caretaker boss Nathan Jones prepares the team for the Boxing Day visit of Reading.

A scheduled run-out for Diarra, pictured, in the under-21s at Charlton on Monday evening was abandoned. He was held up after training with Albion last week and then spent the weekend back in France.

He is not ready to be in first team contention after 11 months without a competitive appearance but could still earn a deal, with extra midfield experience a priority for Albion.

Jones told The Argus: “He’s just gaining fitness at the minute. He’s away from playing. Alou is an interesting player for us. We’re going to continue to have a look at him and make a decision closer to the time.

“I would have liked him to get a bit more game time under his belt. That is still the plan but at the minute he’s not really in a position to affect us at first-team level.”

Jones has taken his first major decision in caretaker control by lining up Craig Mackail-Smith’s early return tomorrow from his loan spell at Peterborough.

The 30-year-old striker is expected to be among the substitutes against Reading.

Albion are still likely to be without influential captain and centre-half Gordon Greer over the Christmas and New Year period.

The Scotland international faces a further ten days of rehab on a long-standing knee injury which has sidelined him from the last four matches. Greer revealed to The Argus: “I was playing on it for about two months and I would have continued to play on it if I could get rid of the swelling in there.

“It’s something I’m glad I know about and can manage it better. It’s not really about that at the moment, it’s us as a unit moving forward.”