Football FanCast
·24 November 2021
In partnership with
Yahoo sportsFootball FanCast
·24 November 2021
Wolverhampton Wanderers have been handed a hefty injury boost ahead of their upcoming Premier League fixture.
In recent comments cited by the Express & Star, Bruno Lage revealed that Bruno Jordao, who has not featured competitively for Wolves for 16 months due to a knee injury, is finally back in training with the first-team squad, and could be in contention for the trip to Norwich City on Saturday.
Asked whether the central midfielder is once again an option for his matchday squads, the 45-year-old said: “Yes, he’s one more. He started working two or three days ago. He needs time.
“We have six weeks to work with him and after see if he’s ready to compete for a place or if he needs to take another decision. I am very happy with him. I knew him when I arrived and saw him since the first day working hard to come back as soon as possible.
“Now he needs to show me on the pitch that he wants to fight for a place in the team. I need to see Bruno. I want to give him a lot of confidence to be ready to train and compete and try to understand the dynamic he can give us.
“I saw some games from him in the past but it’s soon for me to make a conclusion on what he can give to our team. Since the first day, he has been a good professional. I am very happy with that mentality.”
Vote
Vote
Considering just how short of options Lage currently is in the middle of the park, the return of Jordao, particularly with the hectic Christmas schedule of the Premier League soon upon us, is sure to have left the Portuguese manager buzzing.
Indeed, prior to the 23-year-old’s return, the Wolves boss had just Ruben Neves, Leander Dendoncker or Joao Moutinho to pick from in central midfield, with this trio having returned just one goal and one assist over their accumulative 32 top-flight appearances.
And, while Jordao is by no means an out and out attacking midfielder, the former Portugal U21 international has scored one goal over his four first-team appearances since his £8.01m move to Molineux back in the summer of 2019, something which would suggest he could be used as a more attack-minded option by Lage.
1 of 10
In any case, the return of an extra body in the middle of the park is undoubtedly a huge boost for the 45-year-old manager, who will be looking to continue his side’s run of excellent form against Norwich City this weekend.