Wolves defender Willy Boly set to miss Africa Cup of Nations

Ivorian stopper Boly was called up by his nation ahead of the tournament in Cameroon, which is set to begin next Sunday.

But the 30-year-old has been hampered by injuries and availability issues all season – limiting his involvement to just one EFL Cup appearance for Wolves – and now Lage says that, despite his call-up, Boly is unlikely to travel to the continent.

Boly injured his hamstring in the summer but has been missing with a calf problem of late.

Lage told the Express & Star: “He is not available for the (Manchester United) game.

“He is not working with the team, he is working with the doctor.

“I think it will take a long time to recover.

“For me, it will be a big surprise if Boly plays for his country because he’s had six months without training for a full week and it would be a big surprise if he had time to recover. But, you never know.”

Lage revealed Boly has sustained ‘little’ setbacks which have prevented him from making a return to full training.

The head coach added: “It’s the little things that don’t give him the chance to work with the team like we want.”

The defender and team-mate Romain Saiss, who has been a regular in Wolves’ back three this term, had been granted special permission by national bosses and the Premier League to meet up late with their national sides, so they could feature for Wolves at Manchester United for today’s 5.30pm kick-off.

Saiss is set to feature at Old Trafford before jetting off to join his Morocco colleagues.

French-born Boly, who has earned seven caps for the Ivory Coast after making his debut in 2020, will continue his rehab at Compton as Lage plots a way forward without Saiss until at least January 18, Morocco’s final group fixture.

Wolves will be left with just two recognised central defenders – Conor Coady and Max Kilman – with Boly unavailable and Colombian summer recruit Yerson Mosquera still sidelined.

Lage has revealed he has looked at drafting in some of his versatile troops as emergency centre-halves. Leander Dendoncker, Fernando Marcal and Ki-Jana Hoever could be used as stop-gap measures.

But they have recalled young defender Dion Sanderson, 22, from an impressive loan at Birmingham. The Molineux academy product has caught the eye in his 15 appearances for the Championship side this season.