As Wolves prepare for Sunday’s game with Burnley, they do so looking comfortable in mid-table, and with six matches remaining this campaign, Nuno is eyeing an opportunity to iron out some creases in his side, ahead of a fresh campaign. He’ll hope that next season will feature both Raul Jimenez and Jonny, who are sidelined with different, but two serious injury, yet the head coach insists both are showing positive signs of moving in the right direction.
On Jimenez’s continued progress
“Nothing has really changed. He keeps on working very hard, everybody sees that he’s improving, he’s almost ready to go, but now we expect the next exam and the next decision of the surgeon, our medical department, Raul and myself. We have to sit down and create a new plan, because everything looked like he was joining us soon, but we still have to wait and be patient.
“He’s on course, now we see he’s so good, but we still have the main issue, the bone, we need to respect that and that’s why we don’t allow him to head the ball, he still trains with his protection. We’re being careful because it’s about the bone, it’s not about his fitness.
“Hopefully he’ll be better because he keeps improving, and hopefully we’ll have clearance and he’ll join us. We are all positive and this is what we want the most, so it’s our desire to see things happen that keep us being hopeful that he’s going to be here.”
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 22, 2021
On Jonny being a week post-surgery
“Jonny went to surgery last week, it went fantastic, the last report that I had was that the surgeon was able to solve not only the injury, but the former problem that caused the injury, so we’re very positive that he’s going to do well. First surgery, now he doesn’t stop, he can always work and he’s working his upper body, but we have to respect the timing.”
On Traore’s recent fine form
“Since Adama joined us, I didn’t see one day he didn’t give his best. Sometimes things don’t work out, sometimes it’s not only him, it’s about us as a team. What we have is a very talented player, a unique player in the world, that we have to take advantage of.
“He’s been able to reproduce all the things we expect in these games – goals, assists, impact on the game, work ethic, so Sunday he’s again going to have a chance to prove himself and show to everybody that he’s unique.”
On working towards next season
“To build a foundation is trying to build our game in a better way, so realising that we have issues, but now is the right moment to try and solve them, so we can start at a different level for the next game and for the next one. This is how we see, building a foundation is trying next things in a game, and improving our players. Many of them need to improve.”
On the willingness to improve
“That never went away. We had problems, we tried to find solutions, some of them worked out immediately, some of them took longer, but it’s all about that, problems and solutions. It doesn’t work out, be persistent and deal with that.
“What I appreciate more is that we’ve been able to deal as a group, without conflict, realising the situations that were not good, and the commitment of everybody, which has to persist until the end of the season. It never went away from us, the determination, the commitment, the character, and willingness to give everything that you have for the club.”
