Ikeme ready to seize the intitative

Goalkeeper Carl Ikeme finally gets a chance to impress for Wolves tomorrow – admitting that he faces a ‘make or break’ year.

Like fellow Academy graduate Daniel Jones, Ikeme is in the final year of his contract at Molineux.

Tomorrow’s opening pre-season friendly at Wrexham is a rare opportunity to prove himself, with Wayne Hennessey and Matt Murray injured.

The 22-year-old, who has played just three senior games for Wolves, is determined not to let his chance slip.

He said: “I’ve got a year left with a year’s option and we’ll see what happens.

“This could be a make or break year but I’m not really worried because I believe I have a career in the game.

“I feel I can do well – if not here than at another club. If the club was willing to offer me a new contract, I’d be interested.

“I’ll just see how this season goes. The main aim is to play some first team football at Wolves and see what happens when all the keepers get back to full fitness.

“As long as I’m here, I’ll be fighting the other two keepers for their place. Hopefully I won’t have to ask for a move but the reality is I need to play football.

“My perfect scenario would be to play here but if it comes to next year, I need to play and I’m not in favour, then I would have to move on.

“It’s not something I want to do but it’s all about the football. It’s just nice to get a game because it’s been a long time since I’ve played with a lot of the first team.

“It’s another 90 minutes I need because in the last two years I’ve played no more than 10 reserve games. It’s not enough, so this will put me on the way towards full sharpness.”

Wolves boast the strongest goalkeeping department in the Championship and Ikeme realises he must make the most of his chance.

He said: “We’ve got quite a strong goalkeeping unit here with two other very good keepers, I’m third choice and I haven’t really had a chance.

“So it’s good for me to play for the first team because I’ve been injured a lot.

“When Matt gets fit I should imagine he’s going to go back into the number two slot and we’ll see what happens from there.

“But things never run that smoothly. All three of us have a bit of an injury history. Although I don’t want anyone getting injured, it’s a possibility.

“It’s been frustrating because when I have been fit, Matt was playing really well. Then when Matt was injured, I was injured.

“Other keepers have come in and played their part while I’ve been injured, and then Wayne has taken the spot.

“I’m not a young kid anymore so if I could be playing then that would be good.

“I need to stay fit first. I feel I can compete here but there are two other keepers who have done it.

“They have proved themselves here, so they’re going to be chosen ahead of me.”

It’s not the form of Murray and Hennessey that have held back Ikeme’s progress. Injuries have also played a huge part in curtailing his action too.

He said: “I’m trying to play catch-up on missing about 18 months of the last two or three years. I first started having problems with my knee about two years ago.

“I had a couple of months out at the start of the season, then I got back and was involved with the first team. I played a Carling Cup game against Chesterfield then came on as substitute in the League against Luton.

“Everthing was going well but I damaged ligaments in my thumb, so I was out for a month.

“Then I was back training for a week and I did the ligaments in my ankle which put me out for another three months or so.

“I came back training for a week or two but I was in a lot of pain with tendonitis in my knee.

“So I went to see a specialist and he suggested I had surgery which took a month to sort out.

“I was out for another six to seven months after the operation. I had dead bits of tendon that after all the treatment weren’t working.

“That was frustrating because I never thought I was going to be out for so long, because I thought I’d only be out for three or four months.

“The main thing is my knee feels solid now. It’s a lot better than it was. That’s why I’ve missed out on so much football here.”

Not surprisingly then, Ikeme feels he has a lot of time to make up.

He said: “You can always say ‘what if?’ because if I hadn’t had the injuries, I might have played more games.

“But it’s gone now and I’m 22 and I’ve got to play in someone’s first team. Hopefully it will be here because that’s what I want to happen.”