Wolves centre-back Willy Boly started for the fourth successive game against Burnley on Sunday.
The Ivory Coast international has really struggled for fitness this season, and was virtually not used at all in the first half of 2021/22.
He’s struggled with injury. But Bruno Lage also showed unwavering faith in Conor Coady, Romain Saiss and Max Kilman to begin with.
And that was understandable.
The trio were absolutely excellent in the first half of the season.
They’ve also been pretty good in the second, although not quite as solid.
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But just of late, Boly has had some opportunities to prove he can still do a job for Wanderers.
He has now started the last four games, and five of Wolves’ last six in the Premier League.
And he has done well on the whole.
Against Burnley on Sunday, Boly was absolutely solid throughout the contest. Unfortunately, he was partly to blame for Matej Vydra’s goal as he was the furthest player back playing Wout Weghorst onside.
But neither Conor Coady nor Joao Moutinho covered themselves in much glory.
Boly then tried to get across the prevent the cross, but the ball from Weghorst went through his legs.
That was an unfortunate moment for Boly, who had otherwise been really assured and commanding at Turf Moor.
According to Sofascore he made six tackles in the game which was the most of any player. He also made the most blocks of anyone (3), and won a respectable 9/15 duels.
Despite his possible lapse on the goal, he surely did enough to start Wolves’ next game against Brighton.
Willy Boly is proving himself for Wolves
It is currently unclear how severe Max Kilman’s injury is.
But even if Kilman is available again this weekend, Boly should not be dropped. If needs be, Kilman could be brought back in for Romain Saiss on the left.
The 31-year-old is in a good moment right now.
He has managed to build a little bit of momentum, and he has looked quite solid following his return to the side.
It’s an important period for £10 million star Boly.
He has obviously missed a lot of football this season, and he needs to be showing that he can stay fit and perform to a high level in these remaining fixtures.