Matt Doherty believes a senior Republic of Ireland call up is not far away for his Wolves teammate Joe Hodge.
The wing-back represented his country over the international break, playing against Greece and then Gibraltar.
Doherty didn’t have the best of outings against Greece.
But he bounced back against Gibraltar with two assists and a goal.
That was important, as he is likely to be starting on Saturday for Wolves against Bournemouth in place of the suspended Nelson Semedo.
In playing two more games for Ireland, Doherty has now accrued 39 caps for his country.
Someone who’s not yet capped is Hodge, who impressed against Latvia last weekend captaining the U21s. But Doherty reckons his time will come very soon…
Matt Doherty impressed by Joe Hodge as he tips Wolves midfielder for first senior cap soon
Hodge heaped praise on Doherty, stating that the defender is a top professional to learn from and that he is a hero to Wolves fans.
And Doherty has been complimentary back towards Hodge.
In his eyes, the youngster is an impressive talent. And he doesn’t think a first senior Ireland cap is too far away.
He said (Express & Star): “I’ve been impressed with Hodgey so far, with what I’ve seen.
“He’s obviously not the biggest, most dominating player in the world, but he makes up for it with how hard he works. He’s nice and tidy on the ball.
“When he was playing last year there was a chance he would be called up to the Ireland senior squad, and I don’t think that’ll be far off for him at all.
“When that does happen, he’ll be a welcome addition.”
An interesting couple of months coming up for Hodge
It’s nice to hear such comments from Doherty about Hodge.
Since breaking through to the first-team, Hodge has shown himself to be a tidy yet tenacious player.
At the moment, he finds himself down in the pecking order at Molineux.
Competition in his position is very tough, and it’s now going to be an interesting next couple of months for him.
He has been vocal about his lack of game time at the moment, and has opened the door to a possible January exit.
Hopefully he will be given a few proper chances before the next window rolls around.