Michal Zyro is making good progress from the serious knee injury sustained at MK Dons in April – but isn’t setting a timescale on his possible return.
The Polish international winger suffered knee ligament damage which required extensive surgery, but has spent plenty of time at Compton Park during the summer and is making good progress.
A potential year out from the time of the injury would take him to April, giving him a chance of being involved towards the end of this season, but he admits that patience is important.
“As everyone knows coming back is a long way away for me,” says Zyro.
“There is a lot of work ahead, and exercises to be done, and a long way to the end.
“But every day is another day closer and another day quicker to being back.
“I have had other injuries before so I knew what to expect even with such a bad one as this.
“I went to the consultant in London two weeks ago and he said everything is progressing well.
“Phil Hayward also said to me a couple of weeks ago that the knee looks like it is five months after surgery, and it is only three. And that is good news too.
“We need to keep going forward and making progress and not think too much about the date I will be back.
“Sometimes with these injuries it can take a year or sometimes a bit sooner or a bit longer.
“It is all about how the knee understands the exercise and how much progress you make.
“After a session we can look at how the knee is and how it feels and then decide whether we can do more on it or less.
“At the moment everything is going fine – my knee looks like a normal knee again whereas a few weeks ago it didn’t!
“After an injury like this when you get back walking again it feels like you get your life back too!”
Zyro acknowledges the mental challenges faced in coming back from such a serious injury, but has been boosted by working with the likes of Nouha Dicko and Jordan Graham who are at different stages of recovery from their own respective knee problems.
“It can be difficult in my head as you see your team-mates working outside and then going off to a training camp in Ireland,” adds Zyro.
“It is hard to see all those training sessions going on when you can’t join in!
“I just have to focus on the future and not what is behind.
“It helps me to see the progress of people like Nouha and Jordan.
“I have seen the physios work with them as they get closer to coming back.
“That helps me know that I can get back also and seeing Jordan gives me the inspiration to try and catch him up!
“It is good competition because we can push each other wherever we are in our recovery and help each other.”
Zyro had made an impressive start to life in the Sky Bet Championship with Wolves prior to the setback, but admits it may take time to re-settle once he returns, given the expected length of his absence.
But he is in good spirits, and keen to overcome any obstacles that are in his path.
“Coming in halfway through the season was a bit difficult and more difficult than if you are there from the start,” he recalls of his January arrival at Molineux.
“You have to get to understand the league and the movements of your team-mates and the tactics.
“When I am back it may be like that again.
“Maybe it is the next season after this that is more important because if I get back this season there may not be too much time left.
“If you don’t play for nine months, ten months, maybe 12, to get back to a really good shape and condition after that there will more time – maybe another three months, six months.
“But we will see – you never know what is going to happen in football.
“The gaffer might say he needs me and if I am right then I can play.
“It is hard mentally too, to think there may be another bad tackle.
“But that is what it is like when you come back from a bad injury, and there may be problems with other muscles as well.
“We will deal with that when it arises and it is normal.
“You have to be completely right before you can think about coming back – we all have to be 100 per cent sure at the different stages of the recovery.
“It is important to be patient and not rush.”
