Wolves winger Michael Kightly has allayed fears he has suffered a recurrence of his long term ankle injury.
Kightly pulled out of the England under-21s friendly against Wales tonight with a knock to the same joint he had surgery on at the end of February.
But the 22-year-old insists his latest problem is completely unrelated to the bone spur that was removed in the spring which eventually caused him to miss 27 League games last season.
“This has nothing to do with my previous injury,” he said. “The injury before was at the back of my Achilles, but this is at the side near the bony bit after I went over on it two days before the Plymouth game. I’ve strengthened the ligaments and muscles around that area, but if I’d had a complete week’s rest, it would have healed perfectly.”
Kightly took the long term option in withdrawing from Stuart Pearce’s squad – with the aim of hitting the ground running with Wolves at the start of next season.
“The ankle is very stable, but putting it through its paces and striking a ball didn’t feel right, so I had to take the long term option,” he said.
“It’s always nice to play for your country, but I want to hit the ground running next season. The last thing I want to do is damage my ankle further and have a problem at the start of the season. We’ve got six weeks off before the start of pre-season training.” Kightly revealed Wolves didn’t want him to travel anyway, but he wanted to give himself every chance of playing for the England under-21s again.
“I went over on my ankle two days before the Plymouth game and it got quite swollen, but we managed to get it down and I felt fine.
“Then 48 hours after the game, it was quite uncomfortable.
“We settled that down within two or three days but the club didn’t want me to go away with England. But I wanted to play for my country so I gave it a go and trained twice on Tuesday. It didn’t feel anywhere near as good as it should though.”
25 Comments
Phew!
Yeah,no worries with the new injury…So if there are any Prem clubs looking at me-I am fit and available !
Maybe one of your most valuable players should be better looked after in terms of advice to play when clearly injured??
2- Steve, Kights could have gone last season, but decided that he wanted a future at Wolves. Why so negative and nasty about a player who has already shown his loyalty, and has already said he wants to be fit to hit the ground running…”with Wolves.” Still, you’re “Wolves forever,” “Wolves ’til you die,” “Wolves number One fan,” a “Real” Fan,” Wolves through and through…..” NOT!!!!!!!!
This kid came back a day or two early for training last year, and said he couldn’t wait to get playing for us again. I believe his loyalty deserves better than your sniping remark.
We shall see you in about 4 months then Kites.
STEVE (2)
Why look on the black side all of the time.
Does nothing cheer you up?
Somebody shoot me because I don’t think I can take anymore of this negativity
kites has made the right choice by aiming to be fully fit by the start of next season. So lets all get behind the team from now please.
Its idiots like No2 that give wolves fans a bad name. im guessing his other party trick is booing!!!
Get yourself right mate, we need you. He’s stuck with us and we should stick by him. The question is why was he played in the last match if he wasn’t 100%. He was clearly done in by half time and guarding himself in tackles, but was not subbed till far too late in the game.
3-Why dont you stay off our page and concentrate on preparing for a nightmare next season
2) a Sandwell WUM?
Kites a great Wolves + England U21 player, just a bit too keen to get back!
gera’s replacement - 3.5m will be to good for a feeder club like wolves to turn down !
5 Wolveswolves
Continues his reputation of only ever making negative comments.
Go away and get out your playstation
11 should be written as “too” good to turn down! classic albion, simply morons!
Moron 13… you forgot the ; after as, and the capital C in “Classic”.
say what you like about the wolves, they watch rubbish football, they are voted worst fans in the country, they are run by a moon faced money grabber that most clubs wouldn’t trust with the pie stall… but they love good grammer.
14 Happy_baggie
My,my you are a cross little Throstle today are’nt you!
I think Birmingham City are the worst fans in the country at the moment. But as I have said Midland football is so poor, who can blame them!
Very amusing to watch Wolves and Albion fans convert every morsel of news into a stick with which to beat each other though - keep it up, at least it tokes your minds off what goes on, on the pith!
Maybe this is why no Premier League clubs have actually put in a proper bid for him, because he is so injury prone, to say he is so young he gets injured a lot…just a thought! Otherwise, why would such a good player be at Wolves.
16 - maybe we could take him on a pay-as-you-play deal….. that way we won’t waste 2 million up front.
17 - If it was pay as you play we wouldn’t have to pay anything, he only plays one match a season then gets injured, if that is the level of the Dingles’ apparant ‘best player’, then they aren’t going anywhere. How can you rely on one player to make the team tick who only plays a few matches a season due to injury. Tis’ beyond me…
Happy 13 - you go on about wolves supporters grammar and yet you start a sentence without a capital letter - nice one!
You also spelt grammar wrong you doughnut!!!
Isn’t it ironic how happy goes on about wolves supporters grammar and yet can’t spell the word himself!
Hey, I’m Wolves till I die. Don’t you dare start trading in peoples nicknames.
We all know that you are just Jez on a slow office date, and we know your reputation!
Don’t you dare try selling-off my nickname!
11. Rowley Albion
There is nothing wrong in being a feeder club!
That way the risks are kept to a minimum and the fans get to watch their football at a much cheaper price than up with the “greedy” clubs.
The problems start when the managers and owners start promising the fans promotion beyond the club managements capabilities, and if by some accident it is achieved it destroys the whole club financial model.
The pay structure is torn apart, although the £60M that can vanish deep into the coffers is obviously welcome extra profit.
But it can take years to recover from the turmoil, as we have witnessed at Wolves!
Staying safe, where the club can make a good profit, almost risk free is the answer.
i would like MM to sign junior agogo, doubt forest will let him go though - maybe on a swap for Kightly?? we need to be addressing the fact that forrest are a force and next year it will be tough fixtures for us and the rest of the league if they sign big!!
20 - proving my point perfectly.
Thank you.
KIGHTLY!! HE WANTS TO PLAY FOR US NOW SHUT UP YOU SO CALLED WOLVES FANS