Wolves journalist Liam Keen has provided an update on the future of Romain Saiss and Willy Boly ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Wolves are set to be without two central defenders when the tournament begins in January, with Saiss representing Morocco and Boly taking part for the Ivory Coast. The tournament is set to get underway on 9th January, however, as pointed out by Sky Sports, it is up to each club to decide when to release their players to join up with their respective national teams.
And speaking on the latest edition of the E&S Wolves podcast, Keen revealed what the latest plans were when it came to the duo and how Wolves were looking to use them in their upcoming games before allowing them to leave for international duty.
He said: “Just to give a bit of context from probably about a month and a half ago I think it was, Bruno mentioned that they might be missing from December 20th onwards. That was an error at the time, he mistakenly said that, unless he got his dates mixed, I believe that was the case.
“So they’re not leaving on the 20th, it’s late December, is currently the plan. So it’s safe to say that they’re likely to play the Arsenal game on the 28th – or be available at least anyway, obviously depending on whether they play or not.
“It’s likely that will happen. But they’re due, at the moment, to go before the Man United game on the third of January. So that’s the current situation.”
TIF Thoughts on Liam Keen’s comments about Willy Boly and Romain Saiss at Wolves…
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It’s pretty important that Keen has been able to stress the change in dates from what was originally claimed about 20th December to now being later in the month, because being available for those two extra games against Watford and Arsenal could be crucial for Bruno Lage’s side.
Given how hectic the winter schedule can be with the strain it puts on players, and how thin Wolves will be without them as they’ll be down to just three natural central defenders, Lage will be needing them for as long as he possibly can to make sure that he can keep players fresh for the gruelling fixture list.
How he’s going to deal with the situation after that as we move into January will be a different matter, though, but hopefully he’s got something planned to get through the month, otherwise one injury or suspension could leave them down to the bare bones when it comes to team selection.
In other news: ‘Been too off the boil’ – Bruno Lage tipped to drop 25 y/o Wolves ace in big call