Little by little for Wolves' Mark

Now the former England under-19 international is on the way back.

He started the season hoping to challenge Kevin Foley for a place in Mick McCarthy's promotion-chasing team.

But, after kicking his heels on the sidelines, he tore cartilage on loan at Northampton and is now preparing to hit the comeback trail after three months' rehabilitation.

It's a long way back for Little, who has seen his career turn full circle since gaining senior recognition with Wolves and the national under-19s team as an 18-year-old.

His chances have been dented by the emergence of Foley, who has proved immovable ever since his arrival from Luton in August 2007, forcing him out on loan at Sixfields, where he has played 29 games over two spells.

Little said: "When I got into the England squad, there was only a handful of us playing in the first team, and the lads who weren't in there were envious of me because I was seeing action week-in, week-out and they were only playing in the reserves.

"Now lads such as Mark Davies, Fabrice Muamba and Lee Cattermole are all playing regularly in the Premier League and that's what I aspire to.

"Michael Mancienne might not be playing every week, but he's good enough to. You could tell that when he came here, he commanded that much respect. That's the level I want to get to,because I used to be there (playing for England).

"It's frustrating for me, because all I was doing was playing in the reserves before my injury and now I'm watching them."

Little has a long-term view that extends to the surgery on his left knee.

He said: "I tore my left cartilage and I had a choice of a meniscal repair or having the excess stuff trimmed off.

"But the surgeon decided that because I was so young, it would be best if I had the repair, which is the longer option.

"But it meant I'd have a full cartilage for the rest of my career. I was supposed to be out for 12 weeks and I'm on my 14th week now, because I was ill over Christmas.

"I'm not too far behind and I'm happy with the knee now."

After gaining full movement in the joint, Little is now back into light training and looking forward to stepping up his comeback.

He said: "I've been out this week and everything's fine. When I train fully, I've been told to expect a few twinges, but that's all part of the process.

"I don't expect to stay in full training – I think I'll have to come back in and ice it up for a couple of days.

"Apart from that, I'm ready to go."

But Little admits the dark, lonely days of rehabilitation have been frustrating.

He said: "There have been a few days when my head has "gone" and when that's happened, it's best for me to just go home and come back in the next day.

"One day I was supposed to be in the gym for an hour on the bike, but I was so bored, I decided to get one of the manager's bikes out and went for a ride.

"I ended up getting a puncture, came back in the rain and then I had a rollicking for not cleaning the bike up.

"By this time, I'd come back, had my lunch and it was 1.30pm. I hadn't done anything so I just called it a day and went home. When you have days like that, you lose your head.

"You just want to go back out and play football rather than messing about and fixing bikes.

"Maybe if the football doesn't work out, I can fix bikes instead!"

Little's last taste of competition action was on loan for Northampton on October 18 – almost exactly a year since his last game for Wolves, a 3-0 defeat at Ipswich.

He said: "I just need to fight my way back into the team again. I haven't even spoken about any development games yet, I'm just trying to get back into training.

"Maybe next week or the week after, I'll join in for half a game or so."

Long term, Little aims to push for Foley's place and recognises what a tough task it's going to be to dislodge the Player of the Year contender, who is one of Wolves' most consistent players.

He said: "Kev is 'Mr Consistency' so I maybe need him to have a slip-up to get into the team – that's what happens.

"I've had this injury which I wouldn't wish on anyone, but it might be someone else in future – it's just the way football is.

"Kev's the player in my position and I need to be better than him to get in the team.

"I can't aspire to be him – I have to be better than him to get in the team."