Triple injury boost, Joao Gomes & a returning loanee - Things spotted in Wolves training

Latest Wolves news from BirminghamLive includes a look at what happened in the latest footage from the training ground

Alex Dicken Senior Football Writer

16:58, 08 Feb 2023

New signing Joao Gomes is presented to the fans at Molineux

Wolverhampton Wanderers are stepping up their preparations for this weekend’s relegation six-pointer against Southampton.

Julen Lopetegui has been ramping up the intensity in training as Wolves look to build on their emphatic 3-0 victory over Liverpool last weekend. The rest of February’s fixtures will be extremely important in determining the outcome of Wolves’ season, starting with the trip to St Mary’s on Saturday.

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Southampton are bottom of the Premier League table and supporters already want manager Nathan Jones gone after six defeats from his first seven Premier League matches in charge. Wolves will move eight points clear of the beleaguered Saints with a win.

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Club cameras were on hand to capture training at Compton earlier this week and there were a few interesting things on display. Here are some of the things we spotted…

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Triple injury boost

Wolves informed supporters that midfielder Boubacar Traore had returned to the training pitches earlier today. The Mali international hasn’t yet featured under Lopetegui due to a groin injury which required surgery at the beginning of January.

Lopetegui initially ruled Traore out for six to eight weeks, and he seems on track to return before the month is out. He will bolster a Wolves midfield which was improved by the arrivals of Mario Lemina and Joao Gomes in the January transfer window.

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Lemina has been visible on the training pitches and featured in footage released by Wolves on Wednesday morning. He limped off in the 83rd minute against Liverpool and appeared at the full-time whistle with an ice pack attached to his left ankle. Thankfully, Lemina seems to have no lasting damage.

Wolves are anticipating Pedro Neto’s return to action later this month and he was at full tilt in training. The Portuguese forward hasn’t played since injuring his ankle in the defeat to West Ham on October 1, but he is rapidly closing on a comeback.

Joao Gomes sharpens up

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The training ground video has given supporters their first glimpse of Joao Gomes since his £15million switch to Wolves. He was heavily involved in a small-sided game, combining with Joe Hodge, Nathan Collins, Neto, Raul Jimenez and Hugo Bueno.

The Brazilian showed some neat touches and executed a tidy finish after being found in space by Jimenez. Gomes is still getting up to speed having not played a competitive game with previous club Flamengo since November.

Lopetegui is conscious of the fact Gomes was effectively in pre-season before he joined Wolves and wants to give his new signing time to adapt. It shouldn’t be long before we see the 21-year-old in squads though.

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Matheus Cunha practices his goal celebrations

Cunha, Wolves’ new £43m record signing, hasn’t really had any clear-cut chances to break his duck since arriving from Atletico Madrid in January. Nothing particularly inviting has fallen the striker’s way in his seven appearances to date.

He has been gobbling up the chances in training though and celebrated a few of his ‘goals’ at the end of this session. Cunha performed a knee-slide after bundling one ball into the mini goals, before he chest-bumped Pablo Sarabia upon scoring another.

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Loanee returns

Wolves loaned out rookie goalkeeper Jackson Smith to Walsall towards the end of the transfer window. They did so to give Smith - who featured in Wolves’ 3-0 friendly win over Besiktas in July - the benefit of working inside a first team dressing room.

The benefit of Smith being a matter of minutes away by car is that he can still travel to Compton Park and train every week. Smith is splitting his time between Wolves and Walsall, and could be seen working under goalkeeping coach Tony Roberts in the latest training video.

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Where does Pedro Neto fit into Lopetegui's Wolves XI? Have your say in the comments section

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