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It’s time for this Wolves prodigy to shine after his return to fitness – opinion

Wolverhampton Wanderers have been warm-weather training in Marbella over their winter break, and for the significant Iberian contingent within Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, it probably felt like a trip home.

However, Morgan Gibbs-White has insisted that few other Premier League sides work as hard as Wolves do, and it appears from his comments that the time off has been spent productively. “I feel the manager wanted work to be done, so instead of being freezing cold, he took us to Marbella – a chilled sort of break but also working hard,” said the 20-year-old academy product.

So far this season, on the pitch at least, Gibbs-White has not been forced to work particularly hard as he has made just one Premier League start, along with three substitute appearances. Although he has suffered from a back issue, the Englishman has now returned to training.

It has been a sharp decline in on-field minutes after impressing (primarily off the bench) last term, featuring 26 times in the top-flight. However, he has started half of Wolves’ Europa League group games and will no doubt welcome the competitions return later this month when Santo’s side face Espanyol in the round of 32.

After winning the U17 World Cup with England, a reasonable amount of expectation was placed on Gibbs-White’s shoulders, but his route to the starting eleven has suffered from a Portuguese blockade. Firstly, Santo is known to favour a small squad and rarely rotates his starting line-up if he can avoid doing so. But in his defence it difficult for the Wolves boss to justify dropping either Ruben Neves or Joao Moutinho in the centre of the park. The central midfield pairing have featured in all 25 Premier League matches for Wolves this term, and are almost immovable objects in the starting eleven.

Though with the return of the Europa League and fixtures beginning to pile up – Wolves having played 41 games already this season – Gibbs-White can expect to be given opportunities, and it is down to the 20-year-old to take them.

The positive news is that he doesn’t sound overly frustrated by his lack of action, describing Wolves as a “pack”, but in order to get ahead of Moutinho and Neves he will have to be somewhat selfish. At 33-years-old, the former of the duo’s game time will have to be managed, and that presents the perfect opportunity for Gibbs-White to shine.

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