Wolves are set to face a 15-year-old schoolboy against Arsenal on Saturday after he skipped a science lesson on Friday to prepare to face the Premier League title contenders.
Right-back Wes Okoduwa would become Wolves’ youngest player at 15 years and 344 days, and the hosts only had 10 fit senior outfield players.
Craig Dawson, Nelson Semedo, Matheus Cunha, Pedro Neto and Jean-Ricard Bellegarde are out, Hwang Hee-chan and Rayan Ait-Nouri are not fit enough to start and Mario Lemina and Pablo Sarabia are suffering knocks.
“We’re probably in the worst situation we’ve ever been in, but the positive is there are a lot of young players involved against Arsenal,” Wolves manager Gary O’Neil said. “There might be one or two debuts early on for some of the younger guys.
‘I don’t know some of those on the bench very well if I’m honest. They have been training with the academy more than with us, but they were with us on Friday and one was glad he missed his science lesson this morning so he could train with us.
Wolves will include 15-year-old Wes Okoduwa in their squad to face Arsenal on Saturday.
Gary O’Neil hinted that the schoolboy could be in line to start the game amid his injury crisis
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‘I hope you had more fun with us than you did in science! “He’s ready for the game.”
If he plays, Okoduwa will also become the second-youngest player in the Premier League after Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri, who was 15 years and 181 days old when he came on in the 3-0 win at Brentford last season.
Legendary left winger Jimmy Mullen, who died in 1987, is Wolves’ youngest player: he was 16 years and 43 days old when he made his debut against Leeds in 1939, although Cameron Buchanan was just 14 when he played for the club in a match in times of war against their rivals. Western Brom.
Mentioned as one of the country’s brightest talents in his age group and an unused substitute in the 3-0 defeat at Newcastle on March 2, Okoduwa has been linked with Manchester United and helped England Under 16s win the Football Federations Cup this season.
“He’s trained very well, he’s in very good shape physically,” O’Neil said. “He’s probably too early in his development, but it’s the situation we’re in.”