Injury specialist Ben Dinnery has refused to rule out Wolves midfielder Joao Moutinho from playing in their next Premier League game this weekend.
After finishing 10th last season, Bruno Lage will be hoping he can achieve another top-half finish with Wolves this term, with the manager making big changes at the club this summer, including the loan sale of club captain Conor Coady.
However, the absence of Moutinho was keenly felt in Wolves’ 2-1 opening day defeat at Leeds United last weekend, with the team’s only two fit senior midfielders being Rúben Neves and Leander Dendoncker.
But Dinnery, who was speaking on the Premier FPL Injuries YouTube channel on Monday, says that Moutinho was not ruled out of this weekend’s fixture at Molineux as it stands.
“[Moutinho’s injury] literally happened in the last training session [before the weekend].
“He had a bit of a shot, Bruno Lage said it was with his left foot – he never shoots with his left foot – and twisted it.
“By ‘twisted it’, I’m presuming, we’re reading between the lines, there’s a little bit of an ankle sprain or strain in there.
“It’s still being assessed, it was still fairly fresh when Bruno Lage spoke on Saturday.
“He doesn’t know how that’s going to respond to treatment over the first 48-72 hours.
“He’s certainly not ruled out of Gameweek 2 as it currently stands.”
TIF Thoughts on Dinnery’s comments…
We believe that Wolves fans will be desperate for Moutinho to return to action this weekend as they prepare to take on Fulham in a bid to get off the mark for the season.
The 35-year-old has made 176 appearances for Wolves over the last four years according to Transfermarkt, shirking off any suggestion that he is too old to be playing Premier League football on a regular basis, having signed for the club for £5m in July 2018.
We therefore believe that the club miss his experience and leadership when he’s not on the pitch, and will be desperate for him to be fit to play Premier League football as quickly as possible.
But without any update on the midfielder’s fitness, we’re just going to have to wait and see how serious his injury issue turns out to be.