Wolverhampton Wanderers Face Injury Woes with Kieran Trippier and Yerson Mosquera

Wolverhampton Wanderers have been dealt an early-season blow with confirmation that Kieran Trippier suffered a knee ligament injury on his league debut.

The 35-year-old right-back, signed on a free transfer in June, damaged the medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his left knee during Friday’s 2-2 draw with Blackburn Rovers. The club expect him to be sidelined “for a number of weeks”, cutting short the momentum of a much-anticipated start for the former England international.

The bad news does not stop there. Fellow defender Yerson Mosquera is also heading for a spell out after picking up an injury in the same match against Blackburn. The 25-year-old has a slight tear in his ankle ligaments and is set to miss several weeks of action, further stretching Wolves’ defensive options just as the campaign begins to take shape.

There is at least one positive note from the treatment room. Director of performance Phil Hayward revealed encouraging progress for winger Rafiki Said, another summer signing whose Wolves career stalled almost immediately. The 26-year-old sustained a high-grade MCL injury during a pre-season friendly against Maidenhead United last month, only 11 days after joining the club.

“Rafiki's been working very hard in the gym for the last few weeks with his brace on. He's now out of the brace and the most recent scan looks great, so he's heading, certainly, in the right direction,” Hayward said, outlining a clear upturn in the winger’s recovery.

Hayward also confirmed that goalkeeper Sam Johnstone is around a week away from full fitness, offering a timely boost between the posts. Haiti international midfielder Jean-Ricner Bellegarde is expected to take a little longer, with the club projecting another couple of weeks before he can rejoin first-team training.

Wolves now face the early challenge of navigating key absences while waiting for those recovery timelines to turn into available minutes on the pitch.