Gary O’Neil has now praised 15-year-old Wesley Okoduwa after he made the first-team squad against Newcastle United.
An injury hit Wolves were playing their third game in the space of six days after beating Sheffield United in the Premier League and Brighton in the FA Cup.
Their trip to Newcastle United, however, proved to be one step too far for Gary O’Neil’s side who fell to a 3-0 defeat against the Magpies.
Despite losing by a disastrous scoreline, O’Neil was proud of his players and praised them for “giving absolutely everything” under difficult circumstances as Wolves were missing Hwang Hee-Chan, Joao Gomes and Matheus Cunha while Jose Sa and Pedro Neto were taken off with injuries.
Luckily, Neto and Sa were brought off as a precaution when Wolves were losing 2-0, but he didn’t receive such good news on Hwang with O’Neil confirming he’s out for six weeks.
Ultimately, it was a terrible day at the office, but one positive did come from the match and that was Wesley Okoduwa making the matchday squad.
15-year-old Wesley Okoduwa was named in Wolves squad vs Newcastle
At the age of 15, Okoduwa would have become the youngest ever player to play for Wolves and the second youngest Premier League player ever if he came onto the pitch at St James Park.
A highly-rated right-back, who has played seven times for the Wanderers under-18’s this term, had to miss school to train with the first-team squad while the injury to Gomes allowed O’Neil to name him on the bench.
In his post-match interview, the Wolves boss was full of praise for the teenager who had just achieved something truly special.
“Wes missed school yesterday to come with us and sit on the bench today,” O’Neil told the Wolves’ official website. “But he’s trained really well, he’s physically very good, so it’s one where we were short, but he wasn’t meant to be sub, Joao Gomes was meant to be sub but he didn’t feel great with his hamstring when he woke up this morning, so Wes ended up going on the bench. It’s probably slightly too early in his development, but it’s the situation we’re in.”
What a future Okoduwa has ahead of him
Okoduwa is still in school and has just been named on the bench in the Premier League.
Only a select few players on the planet make that breakthrough at such a young age and although O’Neil accepted it was too early in his development, the teenager can be proud of what he’s achieved.
He now has to use this experience as fuel to break into the first-team squad in the future and if he carries on the way he’s going, he could be the next star to be unearthed from Molineux.