Express & Star

Nouha Dicko's Wolves comeback delayed

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Nouha Dicko's comeback has been slighted delayed after the striker underwent a minor operation.

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Dicko had a staple removed from his knee yesterday morning – a common occurrence in post-knee surgery patients.

The striker missed almost the entire 2015/16 season with a serious knee injury, returning to the training field at the end of the campaign.

He is now expected to miss up to three weeks of training, but should be involved with the first team in the early weeks of the new season which starts on August 6.

Wolves head of medical Phil Hayward told the Express & Star the decision was taken to put Dicko under the knife now, rather than during the season.

"He's undergone some minor surgery to have a staple taken from his knee," Hayward explained.

"It's a very small, minor procedure, opening the skin up, taking the staple out and then stitching him back up again.

"It's quite common with surgery. Probably half of people who have surgery have the staple taken out.

"We thought it best to do it now rather than delay it and potentially do it during the season.

"He'll be out of training for two or three weeks and build up from that.

"We're not looking at a dissimilar timeframe to what we thought. It'll be a case of easing him back in August, as was the case.

"It's not a big issue at all.

"If he's going to be out for a few weeks we're better off doing it now and missing a bit of pre-season, rather than in September or October and missing four or five games."

Wolves boss Kenny Jackett admitted the news was disappointing, but would benefit the 24-year-old Dicko in the long-run.

"It's disappointing news in some ways because it does set him back three weeks training," Jackett said.

"But the problem isn't a big one.

"When he comes out of this he won't have any problems at all in the knee, nothing uncomfortable, and that will be good for the future.

"So it's slightly frustrating and sets him back a bit. But it's for the best.

"He looked good last week. He worked hard and was at a good standard of fitness, which you would expect given the summer he's had, doing a lot of physical work."

Wolves kicked off their second week of pre-season training yesterday.

Lee Evans, Carl Ikeme, Dominic Iorfa and Kortney Hause were all involved for the first time after being given extra time off in the summer.

The players are now building towards Saturday's behind-closed-doors friendly against Shrewsbury on Saturday.

Jackett added: "We've got almost everyone back.

"We're working towards playing against Shrewsbury Town on Saturday.

"We've stepped things up this week – three sessions a day, at 7.30am, 10.30am and 2pm.

"It's specifically running in the morning, football session in the middle and then a gym session in the afternoon.

"It'll be hard week culminating in a game we're looking forward to."