Boukari flies to France to solve hamstring issue
Luckless Wolves winger Razak Boukari has flown to France to try to find a cure for his rare injury.
The £3m signing from Rennes has been out since damaging his hamstring in the opening minutes of the 1-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday in September.
Wolves' medical team have been scouring Europe for a second opinion on the problem, which is preventing the Togo international fully extending himself.
Now Boukari has jetted to France with the club's head of medical department Phil Hayward to try to see a specialist to sort out the problem once and for all.
"He feels if he sprints, something might be damaged," said manager Stale Solbakken.
"Boukari is in France with one of our physios to seek a second opinion because that isn't good for us.
"We don't really have the answer to it, so he's with Phil to see if we can sort it out.
"We can't set a time limit, but for him now it's coming to a head because his frustration is growing.
"I think he has a plan in his head because he'll be thinking 'I should have been fit two weeks ago'.
"So now it's the third week after that point and that's always hard mentally.
"We're open-minded about this search – we want to get to the bottom of it.
"His English is OK but he doesn't speak fluent English so he can express himself more fully in French."
Solbakken believes Boukari was showing glimpses of what he can do before he was cruelly struck down.
"He proved with some of his actions at Stamford Bridge that he could really give us something," said the boss.
"He took the ball and created some things on his own three or four times - he flew past people who were from the top level.
"Then he started the following game and was close to being fully fit when he got this injury."
Meanwhile, as reported in later editions of last night's Express & Star, Jamie O'Hara and Georg Margreitter were set to make their comebacks today in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Wigan at Compton.
"It's not about Jamie scoring a hat-trick, but that he has no pain and he can get some match fitness," said Solbakken.
"I just want to see him get through 45 minutes without reaction."
