Wolves will be without Pedro Neto for potentially a handful of games after picking up a hamstring injury – and Fabio Silva will undoubtedly be keen to replace his fellow countryman in the starting XI.
Pedro Neto left the field against Newcastle United on a stretcher on Saturday, after pulling up clutching his hamstring.
The 23-year-old was racing towards goal and appeared to be ready to take a shot. But he then pulled up, and medics tended to the winger for a good few minutes.
It was a very worrying sight to see Neto – Wolves’ best player this season – leaving the field on a stretcher. Some were left fearing a lengthy lay-off for the player.
Thankfully, Neto provided an update on his condition on Sunday, revealing that he is actually only facing a couple of weeks out.
So it’s possible he’ll only miss a few games. But that is plenty of time for someone to come in and stake a claim – and striker Fabio Silva is surely looking at the situation optimistically…
Fabio Silva will be desperate to get the nod from Wolves boss Gary O’Neil after injury to Pedro Neto
There are a few ways O’Neil can get around the injury to Neto.
Pablo Sarabia is possibly someone who’ll be strongly considered by the manager, given his experience. He hasn’t hit the ground running in English football yet, but the Spaniard’s goals and assists numbers at previous clubs are fairly respectable.
There’s also Sasa Kalajdzic, who’s been responsible for scoring two winning goals for Wolves already this season.
But Silva is there too, and he will be absolutely desperate to be the man to replace Neto.
He’s hardly featured over the last month for Wanderers. Since Wolves’ five-game unbeaten run started against Luton Town, he has played just eight minutes of football across two cameo appearances.
At the end of September, O’Neil laid down the gauntlet to Silva, suggesting that he needed to work ‘extremely hard’ to see more involvement.
It was perhaps a suggestion that he had not been doing enough.
But since those comments, £35 million signing Silva has been nowhere near a start for Wolves. Which is why he’ll now be desperate to come in as Neto’s replacement.
How Silva could fit in
Wolves have been playing with three at the back, so there is potential for O’Neil to set up with a 3-5-2.
The situation is now potentially a window of opportunity for him, especially with Kalajdzic still seemingly not 100% match fit.
Who knows at this point if he will be the man to replace Neto. But he should be stepping things right up in training ahead of the Sheffield United game this weekend.