Wolves’ forgotten whizzkid Mark Davies has vowed to give Mick McCarthy a selection headache after an impressive comeback.

The 20-year-old midfielder was arguably Wolves’ best player in Saturday’s opening 1-0 friendly defeat at Wrexham, linking up well with £1m signing David Jones.

Davies has barely played for two years after suffering a series of injuries but the former England under-19s captain insists his problems are all behind him and he can fill the gap left by transfer-listed Seyi Olofinjana.

He said: “First team football is my goal but the only way I’m going to do that is by keeping fit and playing as well as I possibly can, to give the gaffer something to think about.

“It’s about time I got through a game. I’ve suffered with injuries for the last year, but I’m over it now.

“The knee has been fine and hasn’t given me any problems at all. I felt fine. It was a bit of a struggle on the lungs, but fine overall.

“The main thing is to keep injury-free during pre-season and that’s what I’m aiming to do.”

Davies wants to challenge for a place and has put any suggestion of going out on loan to the back of his mind for now.

He said: “It is like I’m making up for lost time but I just want to keep fit until the season starts and see I am and go from there.

Manager McCarthy admits Davies’s performance was the highlight and is delighted to see him fit again.

He said: “It’s really pleasing for Mark more than anything. A few days after I joined the club two years ago, he did his cartilage in a game against Villa and has been involved in about five games since.

“It’s nice to have him back. He looked bright and I was pleased with him – he’s a good player.

“He’s got good quality but like a lot of them he just needs games. That’s the first of many to come – there’s only 10 months to go!”