Former Wolves physio gives time frame on Pedro Neto injury

The Portuguese winger has undergone surgery after fracturing his patella at Fulham last Friday, while team-mate Jonny Castro Otto has also had his second knee operation in less than year.

And Paul Darby, who served as Wolves’ physio between 1986 and 1995, says Neto’s ‘unusual’ injury will require extensive rehab.

“Obviously we don’t know to what extent he had a fracture, but he’s had an operation,” said Darby, who has since advised other football clubs while running a clinic in Albrighton.

“Assuming that it was fractured but in the right place, it would be about repairing the tendon so that it’s strong.

“It’s quite an unusual injury. Technically, in terms of functional stability, it has to be right.

“I would have thought, depending on the severity of the fracture, it would be about six to nine months, with extensive rehab as well.

“The difficulty is you can’t do anything to begin with. It’s difficult to rehab until it’s stabilised, and then you’ve got an extensive rehab afterwards. It’s a nasty injury.”

Neto took to Twitter to confirm his procedure went as planned.

The 21-year-old said “The surgery went well. Already focused on my recovery, thanks for the messages.”

Otto, meanwhile, has gone under the knife after cruelly injuring his right knee again during training two Sundays ago – shortly after returning from a six-month spell on the sidelines.

The Spaniard initially injured his anterior cruciate ligament against Olympiacos in the Europa League last August.

He made his comeback in February and played seven Premier League games before his second setback.