New Year target for Pedro Neto’s Wolves return

The 21-year-old had a starring role last season before he broke his kneecap in April.

Neto – who it was initially hoped could return this month – then suffered a setback in the summer, with Lage instead targeting a comeback later in the year.

The winger is currently continuing his recovery in his native Portugal and after club doctor Rob Chakraverty recently assessed him.Lage is now expecting Neto to return in the New Year.

“The good news is that everything is OK with his injury and now he will start to work harder than he has until this day,” Lage said.

“Maybe he can start working with the team in one month and after that he needs to do the normal pre-season for two or three weeks to be fit to play in this competition, which you know is very hard. Maybe in the middle of January we can have him at the stadium to start playing with us.”

Last week Lage said he had no update on Neto’s condition, and when asked if he was concerned at the time, the head coach added: “No, I just said I didn’t have any news because our doctor was planning to visit him in Portugal. He’s (Neto) now working from Portugal.

“We didn’t have any news, it wasn’t that I was worried about the situation.

“He (Dr Chakraverty) went on Monday or Tuesday and he reported to me about how Pedro is starting to work hard.”

Meanwhile, Lage is anticipating a tough festive period and has called on his side to take maximum points in the coming weeks.

Willy Boly and Romain Saiss are expected to leave for the African Cup of Nations, while Wolves also face a number of top clubs throughout December.

“That’s why it’s so important, more than the players that can come in January, the points we can win now,” Lage added.

“We need to conquer a lot of points now because the winter will be very hard. We have a small squad and maybe we will lose some players to AFCON. Until December, our focus is to win points. After that, it’s to try and find players like Hwang and Trincao to come and help us to be better.

“Our target should be guys like we have here. Guys with big ambition to help us to be better. The position of the club is to find the best deals and the best players. The players who can bring good things for us.”