Wolverhampton Wanderers have been dealt a major injury blow regarding the return of Pedro Neto.

What's the latest?

According to a report by the Daily Mail, the 21-year-old winger, who has not featured for Wolves since damaging his patella in a 1-0 win over Fulham back in April, is no closer to making a return to first-team football, and is set to meet club doctor Dr Rob Chakraverty next week in order to discuss his route to recovery.

It was initially believed that the Portugal international would be sidelined for around six months due to his injury, however, with six months having now passed, Neto still appears some way off stepping out onto the pitch at Molineux once again.

Fans will be gutted

Considering just how much ability and potential Neto quite clearly possesses, the news that the forward does not appear close to making a return to action is sure to have left Wolves fans gutted.

Indeed, over his 31 Premier League appearances last season, the £31.5m-rated man was Wolves' joint-top league goalscorer with five goals, the club's highest assist maker with six and the player who created the most big chances with nine, as well as taking an impressive average of two shots and making two key passes per game.

These returns saw the player who Alan Shearer dubbed a "huge talent" earn a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 7.11, ranking him as the club's second-best performer last time out.

As such, while the wide attacking areas of Bruno Lage's squad are not exactly positions in which the 45-year-old is short of options - with the manager being able to call upon the likes of Adama Traore, Daniel Podence, Daniel Podence and Hee-chan Hwang - the £39k-per-week Neto's continued absence will undoubtedly be a major blow for the Portuguese boss, as the 21-year-old has already proven that he is one of the club's most influential players.

In other news: Jimenez 2.0: Lage could save Fosun millions with "outstanding" 19 y/o Wolves prodigy