ALBION defenders Gaetan Bong and Leon Balogun will be given time off to recover from their exertions at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Bong's Cameroon and Balogun's Nigeria face each other in the last 16 of the tournament in Egypt tomorrow night.

Graham Potter's squad fly to Austria the following day for a week of pre-season training and the opening pre-season friendly under the new head coach against second division side FC Liefering.

Bong or Balogun will be involved in a quarter-final against Egypt or South Africa in the middle of the Austrian trip.

Albion have further friendlies when they return to England against Crawley, Fulham, Birmingham and Valencia in preparation for their third campaign in the Premier League.

It is unclear exactly when they will be re-integrated after no summer break because of their international commitments.

Potter told The Argus: "You need to make sure they get rid of the fatigue, just from a brain perspective.

"They are not robots. We have to just adapt to that and we will, work with the guys in the medical department to make sure we make the right calls for them.

"Of course, from my perspective, it would be nice to have everybody here and you want to work with everybody pretty quickly.

"But you've got to do the right thing for the player and for the team long-term. So adapt is the key word."

Bong will compete again with Bernardo for the left-back spot after signing a new contract.

Balogun's future is up in the air following his limited opportunities last season and the addition to Potter's group of central defenders of Matt Clarke from Portsmouth.

South Africa star Percy Tau, who spent last season with Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium, will be loaned out again in Europe because of work permit issues.