Wolverhampton Wanderers coach James Collins has hailed the attitude of Meritan Shabani after the young midfielder returned from a lengthy spell on the sidelines, while speaking to the club’s official website.
While Pedro Neto has gone from strength to strength in Old Gold, emerging as a readymade replacement for the departed Diogo Jota at Molineux, another fresh-faced youngster who moved to Molineux in 2019 is looking to make up for lost time.
21-year-old Shabani suffered a cruciate ligament injury just weeks after joining from German giants Bayern Munich.
After months on the sidelines, the technically gifted midfielder is finally back to full fitness, producing a goal and two assists in seven Premier League 2 games this season.
“He’s an unbelievable kid. His work-rate, effort and willingness to improve is outstanding,” U23 coach Collins said of Shabani.
“He’s got great ability, but has still got things to learn, to make better decisions in certain areas at times, but no one knows that more than him.
“We have quite a deep conversation the day after a game every week and he’s quite hard on himself. Sometimes we tell him not to be, but he’s self-analytical and critical of himself because he wants to get better, so I’m absolutely delighted with him.
“He’s still got a lot to do to get to where he wants to be, but he’s on the right pathway.”
You don’t play for Bayern at youth level without having something special in your locker and Wolves were not the only club to notice this rough diamond in the summer of 2019.
Shabani himself told Transfermarkt recently that Ajax were desperate to bring him to Amsterdam, offering him the chance to take Frenkie de Jong’s place at the heart of Erik Ten Hag’s midfield after the Dutch international joined Barcelona for £65 million.
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