Bruno Lage responds to calls for Pedro Neto to start for Wolves

Pedro Neto ‘feels comfortable and has no pain’ but Bruno Lage refused to confirm whether the winger will start against Crystal Palace.

Calls are growing for Neto to be reintroduced to Wolverhampton Wanderers’ starting line-up after back-to-back defeats to Arsenal and West Ham.

Neto has made three substitute appearances since returning from a 10-month injury lay-off last month, but he’s only played a total of 40 minutes.

Wolves head coach Lage has been treading very carefully with the winger in the hope of avoiding any relapses.

But with Neto’s fitness and confidence levels improving rapidly, supporters are keen to see the 21-year-old restored to the starting line-up to help Wolves reignite their European push.

“I really don’t know,” said Lage, when asked if Neto is ready to start. “It’s a question of continuing to train. He is doing well and we can see day by day that he feels comfortable.

“But we don’t have a pre-season and we have a lot of players coming just in the last month. We cannot give time to everybody and I cannot select a team with a lot of players who don’t have 90 minutes in their legs.

“We are talking about Pedro, let’s see. What is important is that he feels comfortable, (has) no pain, and doesn’t think about what happened. He is training and playing, just thinking about playing football.”

Lage is expected to make changes to Wolves’ line-up for Saturday’s clash with Palace at Molineux after the below-par showing against West Ham.

Daniel Podence and Raul Jimenez are likely to return to the front three in place of Francisco Trincao and Fabio Silva. The question on every Wolves fan’s lips is whether Neto will join them.

The only confirmed absentee for Wolves heading into the meeting with Palace