Razak Boukari facing long road to fitness
Forgotten Wolves winger Razak Boukari faces a long summer overcoming his injury demons while his team-mates hit the beaches.
The pacy 28-year-old has recovered from a series of niggles that have prevented him challenging for a first-team place since a hamstring operation last July. Now the hard work starts and he is on a structured programme to try to finally rid him of the problems that have dogged him virtually since he signed for £2.5m almost three years ago.
Boukari, who has 12 months left on his contract, could be a potential replacement for Bakary Sako if he could convince the club he has shaken off his long-term injury worries.
But head coach Kenny Jackett says the former Rennes player is set for a summer of hard toil first. said: "For Razak it's a summer of hard work and not too much time off to get his body onto an even keel and some level of durability because it's been breaking down consistently," said Jackett.
"The fitness and medical people will be very careful with Razak. He's only going to have 10 days or two weeks or so off in the summer. He'll keep on working through to see if next year he can do well."
Tommy Rowe, who has similarly spent much of his time at Wolves on the treatment table, will also have a tailored fitness programme.
"He's been back in training and was available now for the last two games but was always unlikely to be selected," said Jackett.
"He'll have a different programme to the players have who have been playing on a regular basis because he hasn't had the games of other people.
"But he'll want to make sure he isn't playing catch-up when all the players report back. Then it's a similar situation to Razak to make sure his body doesn't de-condition.
"If you haven't played, your body can 'de-condition' and when you try to compete for one of those starting places in July, you can break down again.
"But Tommy's a really good pro; he'll work hard through the summer and will come back strongly and be determined, as well as hoping for better luck with injuries than this season."He'll be working hard and doesn't necessarily need that much rest although I'm sure he'll have a holiday with his family."
