The long-awaited return of Thulani Serero to the Bafana Bafana set-up has not gone as smoothly as Stuart Baxter would’ve hoped for.

The Bafana coach said he was giving Serero a “second chance” after the Dutch-based playmaker was banned from the national team by former Safa chief executive Dennis Mumble for refusing to honour a call-up for a World Cup qualifier against Senegal.

But now, after the Vitesse Arnhem midfielder did not feature in his club’s 2-1 win over FC Utrecht on Saturday, Serero has arrived in the Bafana camp with what the team management described on the Safa website as a “slight injury”.

He trained on his own on Monday at Steyn City in Johannesburg, but “will join the rest of the team on Tuesday”.

Baxter will hope that the 27-year-old Serero is ready to play against Nigeria in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the FNB Stadium on Saturday.

Bafana are desperate for a victory after an embarrassing 0-0 draw with the Seychelles away in their last qualifier.

Back-up goalkeeper Ronwen Williams is being monitored for the next two days due to a “minor setback”, while defender Thamsanqa Mkhize was given a break from training on Monday after playing 90 minutes for Cape Town City on Sunday in their 3-1 win over Black Leopards.

“Otherwise there are no new injuries, and I must say the day began very well,” said team doctor Thulani Ngwenya.