Kevin De Bruyne, Samir Nasri and Fabian Delph are all on track to return to action for the final six weeks of the season.
The Manchester City trio have stepped up their recuperation from major injuries and manager Manuel Pellegrini says they could feature in under-21 games or friendlies during the international break later this month.
De Bruyne, who on Thursday became a father for the first time, damaged knee ligaments in January but has now returned to ball work at City.
The midfielder, who has 12 goals and 12 assists for City this season, will remain in Manchester instead of joining up with Belgium for their friendly with Portugal on March 29 in a bid to be back in time for a potential Champions League quarterfinal clash in early April.
Pellegrini told a news conference: "Kevin will stay here. He's not able to play a game with his national squad. Maybe he and Samir Nasri will play -- and I hope Fabian Delph -- in one or two games with the under-21s to maximise that period of time, so when the squad return they will have played at least two games."
Nasri, 28, has not played since October after having surgery on a tendon problem, but has also returned to training at the club's Etihad Campus.
Meanwhile, Delph has endured an injury-ravaged first season since his controversial £8m switch from Aston Villa in the summer and has made just five starts for the club.
The 26-year-old midfielder injured himself less than 20 minutes into his first appearance for City on a preseason tour last summer, keeping him out of the first 12 games of the season. He aggravated the problem soon after and is currently out with an Achilles tendon injury.
The setbacks have also had an impact on his England career, with Delph playing just 66 minutes of their five games this season, but Pellegrini believes he can still secure a place in Roy Hodgson's national squad for Euro 2016 this summer.
"For the European competition, yes [he can make the squad], I think so," Pellegrini said. "He has two, three more months to do it.
"He must then demonstrate he can do it on the pitch."