Wolves' struggles should not end players' World Cup hopes
Joao Gomes has 10 caps for Brazil since making his debut in 2024
- Published
Boss Rob Edwards has dismissed fears Wolves' wretched season will wreck his players' World Cup hopes.
The winless strugglers are bottom of the Premier League with just two points after a narrow 2-1 defeat by league leaders Arsenal on Saturday.
Joao Gomes has not played for Brazil since March while Norway's Jorgen Strand Larsen has just one Premier League goal this season.
South Korea's Hwang Hee-Chan has started just five league games this season while Ladislav Krejci holds ambitions with the Czechia, who are in the play-offs, and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde has qualified with Haiti
Santiago Bueno [Uruguay] and Jhon Arias [Colombia] are also hoping to go to the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada next year.
"There's been one or two who aren't playing saying: 'How can I get into the team? I need to play because there's a World Cup," Edwards said.
"But I don't think there's any of them thinking that [they will not go to the World Cup] because of the position we're in. They're still playing Premier League football. If they're at their level and doing their thing then there's no reason why they can't get selected for their national teams.
"There's no-one that's approached me because of the situation we're in."
Edwards also eased fears Wolves - who have not won in the Premier League since April - would look to sell off their best talent in January if they were preparing for relegation.
"That's not been communicated to me at all," he said. As I see it at the moment I don't think we're in that kind of position where we would have to be selling any of the 'better ones'. I don't think that's the case."
But the head coach confirmed Wolves are looking to move some players on as they look to recruit more Premier League experience next month.
He added: "It'll work both ways, there will be some people who will move on in January and we can freshen up. We need that, we can all see it.
"We're getting closer to a period of time where maybe we can make some changes."