The midfielder has been out with a foot injury since September, but he is not far away from a return to the first-team stage, according to Chris Hughton.
Chris Hughton: “Joey Barton is ready to return to training with the first team.
“He’s a lad that has not played any first-team football for five months.
“And we’re aware of that, which means he won’t be ready for the next two games at least.
“We’ll see where we are with him.
“But for Joey now it is just getting back into the swing of things in training.”