Wolves defender Willy Boly out of Ivory Coast's AFCON squad. | OneFootball

Wolves defender Willy Boly is out of Ivory Coast's AFCON squad.

Boly was called up by his nation ahead of the tournament in Cameroon, which is set to begin next Sunday.

But the 30-year-old has been hampered by injuries and availability issues all season – limiting his involvement to just one EFL Cup appearance for Wolves – and now Lage says that, despite his call-up, Boly is unlikely to travel to the continent.

Boly injured his hamstring in the summer but has been missing with a calf problem of late.

Lage told the Express & Star: “He is not available for the (Manchester United) game.

“He is not working with the team, he is working with the doctor.

“I think it will take a long time to recover.

“For me, it will be a big surprise if Boly plays for his country because he's had six months without training for a full week and it would be a big surprise if he had time to recover. But, you never know."

Lage revealed Boly has sustained 'little' setbacks which have prevented him from making a return to full training.

The head coach added: “It's the little things that don't give him the chance to work with the team like we want."