Wolves have become first club to announce 25-man Premier League squad and have excluded Michael Kightly in their list. The former Grays Athletic winger has suffered a setback in his recovery from injury, prompting the boss to leave him out of the squad.

The ex-Sunderland manager cited the player's long-term absence - since Kightly has not played in over nine months - as the reason behind the exclusion, while revealing at the same time that the player will be allowed to go out on loan when he regains his fitness.

"We're just going to let Kights get on with it," McCarthy said on the club's official website.

"He's still not quite ready to come back and there's no pressure on him - it will take as long as it takes.

"There's no time limit on it either.

"When he is fit, he won't have played since last November and it would be very difficult in that situation to go straight back into the Premier League.

"So when he is ready, we'll be able to discuss with him the possibility of going out on loan, which he can do before we have the chance to revise the squad in January."

The head of the club's medical department, Steve Kemp, insists that the boss made the right decision in leaving Kightly out.