Meritan Shabani finally returned for the Wolves U23s on Friday night, after recovering from a second serious knee injury.
The midfielder has had some rotten luck since moving to Molineux in 2019.
He sustained a ruptured ACL in a Carabao Cup match against Reading back in 2019.
After recovering, he headed to Dutch outfit VVV-Venlo at the end of the 2021 January window.
He had been due to spen the rest of the season there, but he would only make a handful of appearances before the injury curse struck again.
Shabani suffered a recurrence of the ACL injury he had previously, meaning more time on the sidelines.
The star finally returned to training recently, and on Friday night, he managed to get some minutes with the U23s. It was the first time he’d played for Wolves since January 2021.
He replaced Jack Hodnett for the final 18 minutes of the game against Norwich City.
The former Bayern Munich man was well placed to actually score on his return. But a cross from Harry Birtwistle was played just behind him, meaning he couldn’t really get a good connection on it.
The game at Carrow Road finished 2-0 to Wolves.
After the game, Shabani took to Instagram to mark the occasion.
He uploaded a photo of him entering the action after so many months on the sidelines, and included the caption ‘I’m BACK’.
A number of academy players left comments of support on the post. First-teamer John Ruddy also left a few raised-hands emojis.
Brilliant news as talented star Meritan Shabani finally makes Wolves U23s return
Shabani returning to action on Friday night was absolutely fantastic to see.
Injuries in football are extremely frustrating things.
Shabani has had two serious ones and one can only imagine how hard it’s been for him having to be on the sidelines.
He arrived at Wolves in 2019 to a lot of excitement, coming in from German giants Bayern.
It’s likely he might have become integrated into the first-team squad had it not been for his rotten luck with that first injury.
Hopefully now Shabani can stay fit and put his struggles firmly behind him. It would be brilliant to see the 23-year-old get out on loan again somewhere and thrive.