ETHAN Laird is getting better "day by day" as he finally edges ever closer to his Cherries debut, according to boss Scott Parker.

Right-back Laird, who starred for Swansea City during the first half of the Championship season, swapped south Wales for the south coast at the start of January.

However, the Manchester United loanee is still yet to take to the field for his new club.

Shortly after arriving, the 20-year-old suffered a hamstring injury, which has ruled him out of action for almost two months.

But now Laird, who last played a competitive game when turning out for Swansea on December 11, is ready to return and could feature against Stoke City for Cherries on Saturday.

"It’s not even been a stop-start, he’s not even started for us," Parker told the Daily Echo when asked how ready he hopes Laird will be to make an impact on the team.

"So obviously being around it and being involved, he’s now consistently had probably 10 days of training and I’ve seen someone improving and getting better day by day.

"So hopefully the weekend comes and he’s in a place that I decide to bring him into the squad and use him. We’ll make those decisions tomorrow leading into the game."

Asked if one positive of Laird's prolonged spell away from the pitch has been to allow to to take on board the new information required to fit into Parker's side, Cherries' head coach added: "Hopefully. There’s no better practice than being amongst it, but he’s had that as well.

"We’ve worked closely with him, explained to him how the team is and what’s expected of him, his roles in and out of possession and hopefully he’ll grasp that really quick."

Laird will be competing for minutes with the likes of Jack Stacey and Adam Smith, the latter having just returned from his own injury lay-off.