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7 months ago
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Wolves striker Matheus Cunha will make his comeback ahead of schedule against Burnley on Tuesday after a series of late-night phone calls to manager Gary O’Neil imploring to play.
Cunha was expected to be out for 12 weeks after damaging his hamstring on February 10 but has returned to full training and even asked to feature in his side's previous matches against Coventry and Aston Villa.
Though O’Neil felt that was too soon for the 24-year-old Brazilian international, he has confirmed he will feature at Turf Moor.
‘He will definitely be in the match-day squad,’ said O’Neill about his 11-goal forward. He’s miles ahead of schedule – when the initial scan results came through it was expected to be somewhere in the region of 12 weeks. He is just over six and doing absolutely everything.
‘He was knocking my door down to be involved against Villa on Saturday. He has rung me about four times at 9.30 or 10 o’clock at night telling me how ready he is.
Matheus Cunha is expected to return for Wolves against Burnley after recovering sooner than expected from a hamstring injury
24-year-old has been absent since hobbling off in the club's defeat to Brentford in February
He did a great session on the grass on Friday. Instead of risking him against Villa, he was able to really test his hamstring with a good session and that has put him in a great spot for Tuesday night.’
‘He looks 100 per cent ready so let’s see how many minutes we can get him in for. Obviously he’ll be a big help to us.
‘I am excited for him because he’s worked so hard. As soon as the diagnosis came through, he refused to accept that it was accurate and that he would get back quicker.
'He said I should have played him in the FA Cup against Coventry which would have been a four-week return on a 12-week injury! That is how his mindset has been.’
Cunha, who completed a £44million move from Atletico Madrid last summer after spending part of last season on loan at Molineux, has impressed after a slow start to his Wolves career and scored a hat-trick at Chelsea shortly before his injury.
Gary O'Neil revealed Cunha had called him repeatedly imploring the manager to allow him to return
O’Neil only had 11 senior players to call upon in the 2-0 defeat at Villa and had to give 18-year-old Leon Chiwume his Premier League debut up front in the absence of Cunha, Pedro Neto and Hwang Hee-Chan.
Defender Craig Dawson could also be involved against Burnley after injury.
Wolves have defied pre-season predictions that they would be involved in a relegation battle with Burnley and the other newly-promoted clubs.
O’Neil isn’t being complacent about facing Vincent Kompany’s team though. ‘They got a great result at Chelsea with 10 men and will be a test for us,’ he said.
‘We went to Sheffield United and lost with stronger resources available to us than we have now. Vincent is an excellent coach. I am surprised where they are with the coach they have and the money they’ve spent.’
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