Wolves’ forgotten whizzkid Mark Davies has vowed to give Mick McCarthy a selection headache after an impressive comeback.The 20-year-old midfielder was arguably Wolves’ best player in Saturday’s opening 1-0 friendly defeat at Wrexham as he linked up well with £1 million signing David Jones.

Davies has barely played for two years after suffering a series of niggling injuries, but the former England under-19s captain insists his problems are all behind him and he can fill the gap left by transfer-listed Seyi Olofinjana.

“First team football is my goal, but the only way I’m going to do that is by keeping fit and playing as well as I possibly can to give the gaffer something to think about,” said Davies.

“It’s about time I got through a game. I’ve suffered with injuries for the last year, but I’m over it now.

“The knee has been fine and hasn’t given me any problems at all.

“I felt fine. It was a bit of a struggle on the lungs, but fine overall. The main thing is to keep injury-free during pre-season and that’s what I’m aiming to do.”

Davies wants to challenge for a place and has put any suggestion of going out on loan to the back of his mind for now.

“It is like I’m making up for lost time, but I just want to keep fit until the season starts and see I am and go from there,” he added.

“I’ve not really had chance to talk to the gaffer to be fair – I’ve just got on with the running, but hopefully this game was the first of many for me.”

Central midfield is one of the more highly competitive departments of McCarthy’s squad, with Davies, Jones, David Edwards and Darren Potter jostling for places.

“There’s a bit of competition with David Jones, but we’ve got a few good midfielders in there now and we’ll see how it goes,” said Davies.

“We’ve got good players anyway, but the three new signings will improve the team massively, so hopefully it will be a good season.”