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Saturday 24 November 2018 12:25, UK
Ruben Vinagre is ready to make his long-awaited return to the Wolves starting line-up, says head coach Nuno Espirito Santo.
The 19-year-old looks certain to replace the injured Jonny Castro Otto at left wing-back against Huddersfield on Sunday, with the Spain international suffering a knee injury while away with his country.
Vinagre's last league start came almost a year ago but he has made four substitute appearances in the Premier League this season and was part of the Portugal team that won the Euro U19 Championship in the summer.
Nuno has no qualms about putting the teenager back into the side.
"He's ready to go, he's matured," said Nuno. "Last season he had his chance, at the beginning of this season he wasn't with us as he was becoming a European champion.
"He's growing, he's getting better. I'm totally confident that the answer's going to be good.
"It's more than the title, it's the high level of competition he was involved in. They won the competition and he improved a lot."
Otto looks like being out for around six weeks and Nuno said: "That's the diagnosis, but let's wait and see how it evolves.
"First of all he has to take care of the pain but I don't think he will need an operation. Unfortunately we can't have him for [Sunday]."
Wolves headed into the international break with tough games against Tottenham and Arsenal but the visit of Huddersfield to Molineux is a match that most observers expect Nuno's team to win.
The Terriers have won just once all season but the Portuguese is not taking them lightly.
"It doesn't change the dynamic, the high level of preparation is the same. All the opponents are difficult and all the games in the Premier League are a big challenge for us," added Nuno.
"Huddersfield is a good team and they have improved. We know how hard it will be but we are at home and we need to make our ideas stronger and achieve a good performance."
