Boost for Gary O’Neil as injured £4.2m Wolves gem finally spotted training at Compton
Wolves’ woes at the back have been well documented, but one as yet unseen defender looks like he will soon be available for Gary O’Neil.
Wanderers find themselves bottom of the Premier League table after seven games, having shipped a whopping 21 goals already this term.
The club are also out of the Carabao Cup already.
It has been a very tough couple of months so far, and Wolves recently received a huge blow when it was confirmed Yerson Mosquera would be out for the season with a serious knee injury. Mosquera’s injury blow devastated Wolves fans, many of who had been crying out for a new centre-back over the summer.
O’Neil currently only has three senior options to call upon; Craig Dawson, Toti Gomes and Santiago Bueno.
But there is one slight bit of good news today, with summer signing Bastien Meupiyou having commenced light training at Compton Park.
Bastien Meupiyou spotted training at Compton Park after injury
On the day before transfer deadline day, Wolves completed a move for highly-rated French youngster Bastien Meupiyou.
Wolves paid Nantes around £4.2 million for Meupiyou. But since his arrival, he has not played any games, either for the first-team or the U21s.
That is because he arrived at the club after sustaining a knee injury last season. The starlet has been doing some rehab, with Gary O’Neil saying last week that Meupiyou was ‘creeping closer’ to a return to training.
Earlier today, the club released new photos of Meupiyou on the training pitches at Compton Park for the first time.
The player can be seen doing some ball work during what appears to be an individual session.
Meupiyou first-team debut may still be a while off
It is good to see Meupiyou finally out on the training pitches at Compton, but fans may not be seeing him for a few more weeks yet.
The France U18 international will need to build up his fitness now, and you would imagine he will play for the U21s first.
Wolves may be short of centre-back options at the moment. But Meupiyou needs to find his feet first.
Ideally, he will do that as quickly as possible, because it would be great for O’Neil to have more cover. It is a small boost that he is at least now back in light training.
Meupiyou can also play in midfield and at left-back according to sporting director Matt Hobbs, so that versatility would also be most welcome.
