Wolves have been boosted today by the returns of international players to pre-season training.
Over the past few weeks, Gary O’Neil has been working with his first-team squad, but has been without those who went to Euro 2024 and the Copa America.
Despite missing key stars though, O’Neil has overseen three wins for far this summer.
The first one came against Como 1907 in Marbella. Then, Wolves beat Bristol City back at Compton Park. And at the weekend, Wolves defeated West Ham United in Jacksonville.
Wolves have two more games to play in the States – against Crystal Palace on Wednesday and then RB Leipzig at the weekend.
And O’Neil pretty much now has a full squad of players to work with.
Pedro Neto, Nelson Semedo, Joao Gomes return to Wolves pre-season training
Wolves were back training again this morning, and the players that were involved with their national teams have been spotted at the session.
Journalist Nathan Judah was watching this morning, and uploaded a few pictures to X.
Pedro Neto is back, as is Nelson Semedo, who was pictured alongside his new understudy Pedro Lima, who may well be brilliant competition for the 30-year-old.
Also back is Joao Gomes, who had been with Brazil at the Copa America.
Liam Keen also confirmed on X that goalkeeper Jose Sa has returned to the squad.
It remains to be seen if these returning players will have any kind of involvement in Wednesday’s game against Crystal Palace.
O’Neil spoke about them a few days ago and did not sound too hopeful that they would, instead suggesting they could play against Leipzig.
Now, the only player from last season’s first-team squad not with the rest is Boubacar Traore, who is at the Olympics with Mali. Youngster Enso Gonzalez has also been at the Olympics, but he’ll have no further involvement after suffering an ACL injury.
Big boost for O’Neil
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The plan was always for these four players to return to the squad on Sunday, and it is great to see them back and pictured in training today.
There is always a worry when players are linked with exits that they won’t be involved in pre-season. This is the case with Neto and Gomes, with big clubs showing an interest in both.
So it’s a good sign that the pair are now with the squad and have begun training.
Hopefully, they can get up to speed relatively quickly. But they may find those who have been back for the past few weeks will be running rings around them in training initially.