Soccer: West Brom and Republic of Ireland striker Simon Cox is to consider his future at The Hawthorns because of his lack of first-team football this season.

Cox is open to the possibility of going out on loan or being sold if head coach Roy Hodgson and chairman Jeremy Peace receive a satisfactory offer.

He has started only two Premier League games during the 2011/12 campaign including Tuesday's 1-0 defeat at Tottenham.

Cox slipped down the pecking order after the arrival of Shane Long - currently sidelined for at least two weeks with a groin injury - last summer plus the recall of Marc Antoine-Fortune from a loan spell at Doncaster.

When asked about a permanent move, Cox said: "I don't know. If someone comes in to buy me and it's the right price, and the chairman and manager say 'yes' then it's out of my hands.

"If they say 'no' and a loan is the preferred option, then that's the sort of road we might have to go down. It's a decision we're going to have to make as a club and myself and my family in the next couple of weeks."

Long, his international teammate, is braced what he hopes is just a fortnight out of action, despite having an injection to ease his back problem.

The Baggies' joint top scorer with five goals was ruled out of the midweek loss against Spurs and is also set to be on the sidelines for the FA Cup tie with Cardiff and the Barclays Premier League encounter with Norwich.

"I had an injection yesterday to speed things up but it's very tender at the moment," he told the Wolverhampton Express and Star. "I'm not training. Hopefully it's only going to take a week or two and it's no more serious than that.

"The injection is designed to kill the pain so I can start on my rehab. I'm going to try to aim to be fit for the Norwich game, but that might be a bit too soon."