Express & Star

Welcome back Wolves! Kenny Jackett's double joy as Nouha Dicko and Mike Williamson return

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Nouha Dicko and Mike Williamson gave Wolves a boost as they both kicked off pre-season training with the rest of boss Kenny Jackett's first-team squad.

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The pair have been sidelined for 10 and seven months respectively but joined in as Wolves returned to Compton Park, as did broken foot victim Ethan Ebanks-Landell.

The returning players were put through their paces after almost seven weeks off.

After a nightmare season for injuries in 2015/16, only Jordan Graham and Michal Zyro remain on the treatment table ahead of scheduled returns in October and April respectively.

And after a hard day's first training, Jackett told the Express & Star he was glad to be back. The new season kicks off 39 days from now, on Saturday August 6.

He said: "We're very optimistic. We're looking forward to it. It's good to see a few people back out of the treatment room. It's a young, enthusiastic, hard-working group."

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A few players have an extra week off owing to their season finishing later.

Carl Ikeme, Kortney Hause and Dominic Iorfa will return next Monday (July 4), as will Lee Evans, who was involved in the play-offs with Bradford City.

David Edwards is of course still with Wales at Euro 2016, while Sylvain Deslandes in away with the France Under-19 squad.

Jackett said of Dicko's return: "We've been building up with Nouha since the end of last season.

"Hopefully, he can have a really good pre-season and keeping working hard and get back to where he was. The summer's been good for him, that it came when it did.

"It's given him the extra time and, hopefully, we and he benefit from that."

Meanwhile, Wolves will host Shrewsbury Town in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Saturday July 9.

Jackett plans to give his first-team players 45 minutes each in what will be their first arranged game of pre-season, ahead of the friendly at Crewe Alexandra the following Friday (July 15).