Dave Edwards is making good progress in his recovery from a broken metatarsal and remains on course for a Wolves return before the end of the season.
And that would then give him an opportunity to stake a claim for a place in the Welsh squad for the summer’s European Championships.
Edwards is now seven weeks into his recovery after sustaining the injury at Queens Park Rangers, and is back doing some form of outdoor work as the rehabilitation continues.
If the recovery continues he remains on course to be back within the 12 weeks timescale and make him available for Wolves’ final fixtures of the Sky Bet Championship season.
"From being able to go outside on Monday, and do some work with my trainers to start off with, and if everything felt o-k - which it did - to put a pair of boots on and do a little bit of early stage ball work, was very nice,” said Edwards.
"It's nice to get some fresh air, especially with the sun shining.
"I've said in the blog that I’ve been doing, it's all about little milestones and that was another milestone ticked off and I can look ahead to the next big thing and hopefully I'm not too far away.
"You can do as much as you want in the gym but getting the boots on is special, jogging around the pitch and stuff like ladders and hurdles, it's only very gentle and not too much exertion compared to what I've been doing in the gym.
“It was just getting different muscle firing, getting football muscles firing.
"The fresh air almost feels like you're edging closer when you get outside.
“It is seven weeks now since the operation and the surgeon gave a timescale of 12 weeks.
“He also said that if at 10 weeks I felt pain-free, and could do everything I needed to do, then I could start back training, but that would depend on a CT scan showing that the bone had healed and the screw was still in place.
“It all feels really good at the moment and so best case scenario is that I will be training in three weeks.
“That would give me a good month of the season left to get myself fit and playing games, and hopefully having done my part it would just be whether I get selected.”
Edwards says Wales boss Chris Coleman has been checking on his progress, and clearly the motivation of playing a part for Wales this summer is an added one to making sure he can make a positive impact for Wolves before the season concludes.
But he has also had to block out too many questions relating to his potential availability, to make sure he remains focused strictly on his recovery.
"Chris Coleman rang me a few weeks ago to see how I was,” says Edwards.
"Obviously that's great for me personally to get a call from the manager and the physios there I've also been speaking to.
"They are very good and they have a squad coming next week so I think I'll get down to the Northern Ireland game and it'll be good to see a few faces there.
"In one way you have to put it to one side, being able to get myself away from football, you're not so much roping yourself in wondering who will be picked when the squad gets announced - things like who's going to playing in my position.
"I tell myself that there is nothing I can do at the moment that will influence my selection so it's about trying to get fit first.
"I want to get fit as soon as possible so I can play some game for Wolves before the end of the season.
“That's important for me, for Wolves and for the Welsh selection - if I can be back playing.
"But at the same time if it's not right for whatever reason - touch wood it feels great at the moment - then I'm not going to rush it for the sake of fitting in one more game.
"Because if I break down I'll never forgive myself.
"But at the moment everything's well ahead of schedule so I have a bit of time on my side.”
