Wolverhampton Wanderers have been without their talisman Helder Costa for much of the last few weeks.
Wolves’ Helder Costa
While Paul Lambert may not want to admit it, using Helder Costa sparingly during the final weeks of the season may be a smart decision if Wolves hope to hold onto their talisman this summer.
Costa has enjoyed an excellent first season in the Championship, reaching double figures for goals and contributing an impressive number of assists along the way.
Unsurprisingly, that form has attracted attention from the Premier League, with the Daily Mirror reporting in March that Arsenal and Chelsea had scouts keeping an eye on the 23-year-old.
Given his importance to the Wolves side therefore, his recent struggles with injury – he has missed several games in recent weeks – may ultimately be deemed to be something of a positive for the Molineux side ahead of the summer.
Wolves manager Paul Lambert
Following their victory over Leeds on Monday, Lambert’s men are now mathematically safe but obviously too far back to make any late surge for the play-offs, so the season looks set to finish in unspectacular fashion, meaning that Costa being used sparingly is not going to hurt their campaign too much.
And while it seems unlikely that taking Costa out of the limelight will have too great an impact on the interest in his signature, it may be worth Lambert keeping the Portuguese out of the side as often as possible in the hope that it leads to other clubs prioritising other targets after somewhat forgetting about how great an impact Costa can make.
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