With the 2026/27 campaign nearing, director of performance Phil Hayward has provided an update on the players who’ve had their pre-seasons affected by injury.
Rafiki Said and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde face spells out, but Sam Johnstone and Fer Lopez are nearing returns, after Adam Armstrong was back in action at the weekend.
Rafiki Said
New signing Said suffered an MCL injury during the opening stages of Wolves’ pre-season friendly at Maidenhead United on 22nd July and will now miss the start of the season.
“Unfortunately, Rafiki had an injury whilst taking a shot during the Maidenhead game, fairly early on in the match, the shot was blocked, placing a big strain on the inside of his knee, and as a result he sustained a high-grade injury to his medial collateral ligament [MCL]. It's very difficult for him at the minute, having just come to the club, and he hadn't been training for very long, so it’s really disappointing for both him and for us because he was looking sharp, but unfortunately, it’s part and parcel of the game sometimes.
“In terms of the process, he'll be in a brace for the next six weeks or so and he'll have some injections in that time to accelerate the healing process. He’ll be somewhat limited in terms of what he can do functionally in that time, whilst the ligament heals. He’ll be working hard in the gym to maintain his fitness and be doing lots of strength work to maintain all the muscles around the injured area, but he's not going to be able to do anything particularly functional in that time. Once the brace comes off, he'll then have to build back up and get back into training, which is likely to take another few weeks, so he’s going to miss the first part of the season for sure.”
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde
Following a three-week break after the World Cup, Bellegarde returned to Compton Park last week, but now faces a period out with a hamstring injury.
“At the weekend during the training session JJ felt his hamstring. We've had an MRI scan and there's a fairly high-grade injury to his left hamstring. He’s out for a number of weeks, not the same time as Rafiki, but it’s going to be a few weeks until he’s back on the grass. He was away for the World Cup, had the break, and then came back in last week, so we've built him up pretty slowly, but just one particular action during the session caused him to feel his hamstring.
“Those players at the World Cup all had three weeks off afterwards, but within that block there was a week of conditioning to be doing on holiday, and he did that properly, so it's frustrating. He had a hamstring injury on the opposite side last December, a really similar type of injury, and it's unfortunate. Had it been an injury to the same area that's been injured before then it would generally take a bit longer to come back from because damaging new scar tissue can take longer to heal, so that is a positive, but still not great news. It’s difficult to manage the workload, these players had a long season and because of the World Cup didn't really stop, we do everything we can to manage the risk but also have to be realistic that the season starts in two weeks, so it's disappointing, but we’ve got to deal with it and get him back as quickly as we can.”
Sam Johnstone
Goalkeeper Johnstone is yet to feature during pre-season, having undergone shoulder surgery this summer, but has stepped up his recovery recently.
“Sam has been doing rehab throughout the summer and has worked really hard; he only had two weeks off over the summer. He had the surgery towards the end of last season but has progressed really well over the off-season. He's now pretty much back in full training, doing the majority of sessions, and has had no issues with his shoulder, so he's progressing really well and is on schedule to be back in full training over the next couple of weeks.
“It was something that he was managing for a couple months before surgery. We always try to manage things without surgery wherever possible, and manage things with rehabilitation and less invasive measures, but that didn't solve the problem. The timing of the surgery meant he wasn't available for the last few games last season, and then had the whole off-season to recuperate, so the six weeks of the off-season plus the three weeks before we went away were all part of that rehab. As a result, the amount of games and training that he's missed has been minimised.”
Fer Lopez
Midfielder Lopez missed the Maidenhead and Real Sociedad friendlies with a minor issue but is expected to return to action this week.
“Nothing major at all on Fer, more muscle tightness around the groin, so it’s something that we managed for a few days, but we didn't feel like he was ready to be involved in a match so soon. He trained on Saturday and Monday with no issue, so he's been fine, no issues at all, so he’s fully available for the matches this week.”
Adam Armstrong
Armstrong was back on the pitch against Real Sociedad on Saturday, having successfully overcome a minor issue early in pre-season.
“He had a small issue in Portugal to the soleus [calf] muscle. It settled down very quickly again. It was a pretty minor issue, not a huge amount of muscle damage, so he missed a few days’ training and then gradually built back up. He was back involved in the matchday squad on Saturday and should be fully available going forward. He's been absolutely fine since the injury and looks really sharp.”
