SAD NEWS: Wolves key player has been ruled out ahead of Chelsea clash due to serious injury

Wolves key player has been ruled out ahead of Chelsea clash due to serious injury

Chelsea have been informed that they may face Kevin De Bruyne, James Maddison, and William Saliba this weekend.

Before Wolves’ match against Chelsea, Gary O’Neil compared Pedro Neto to Kevin De Bruyne and James Maddison, among other top Premier League players. The 23-year-old winger, who has previously been linked with a move to Stamford Bridge, is set to return from injury against the Blues on Sunday afternoon.

Neto had a fantastic start to the Premier League season, scoring nine goals and assisting in the first ten games. However, the Portugal international suffered a hamstring injury against Newcastle United at the end of October.

Neto is poised to make his long-awaited return on Christmas Eve after being out for about eight weeks. O’Neil revealed that the Portuguese star had completed a full week of first-team training ahead of Wolves’ weekend match against Chelsea.

“Pedro [Neto]’s back training and has trained the full week with the lads, so we’ll see how he goes during the next two days to how much involvement he can have at the weekend,” added the 39-year-old. “But training’s going well, he feels good, so let’s see how he is come Sunday.”

When asked about Neto’s performance since his comeback, O’Neil characterized him as a ‘big player’ who is as vital to Wolves as James Maddison is to Tottenham Hotspur and Kevin De Bruyne is to Manchester City. “Everyone will be delighted to see Pedro return,” he remarked. Everyone will realize that we want Pedro back ready to go, not only because we feel obligated to do so.

“If you look at the spell since he’s been out, the lads have managed to keep pushing results and performances, and if I think about some other teams where key players have been missing, it always has an impact on results.”

“Tottenham went on a tough run without Maddison and Van de Ven, Manchester City went on a tough run without De Bruyne or Rodri, Arsenal last year when they lost Saliba they were probably going to win the league, so that moment against Newcastle when everyone felt, ‘big player gone for a while – how will they do?’

“We’ve kept going and we haven’t got as many results as we would have liked, but we’ve beaten Burnley, Spurs, drawn against Nottingham Forest, been right in the game at Fulham, right in the game at Sheffield United, so the lads deserve a lot of credit for the work they’re putting in.”

“It’s not as simple as getting Pedro back and everything will be fine. As excellent as he is and as eager as everyone wants to get him back, the club will keep pushing until he is absolutely ready.”

Then, when quizzed on whether Neto is being rushed back, O’Neil insisted that he’ll protect his talisman. The Wolves boss said: “Pedro’s an intelligent guy, so he knows the nature of the injury and he knows it’s not one you could rush, so he’s been really patient with the rehab and what he’s done with the medical team to get him in the best place possible.

“He’s recovered fairly quickly to this point due to the work that he’s done, and now it’s all of our jobs at the club to make sure that we protect him, that he’s ready, but also that we get him back as soon as possible because he’s a huge asset to the team and to the football club.”

“When he returns, he’ll give everyone a lift, but I can assure you that no chances will be taken as to how long or how soon.” Everything will be done correctly to get the best results for the team and Pedro.”