'Let's see' - Lage remains coy on Costa fitness ahead of Man City clash, admits 'he needs time'

Wolves manager Bruno Lage has remained coy about Diego Costa's availability ahead of their Premier League game against Man City at the weekend.

The 33-year-old joined Wolves on a free transfer earlier this week after their appeal for his work permit was upheld.

Costa played for Chelsea between 2014 and 2017. He has been without a club since leaving Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro in January.

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"Let's see, we have one more day, let's see if he can be available or not," Lage said.

"When Sasa (Kalajdzic) got injured, Diego was available, it was a moment to talk to him and convince him to come to us, so we are very happy with him.

"We also know that he needs time to be ready. He is in good shape, there are no problems but he must be ready to compete at this level.

"Our hope is to prepare him to compete at this level and I think we can bring the work with Costa because that is what we need.

"We need a reference in the box, we need a guy to compete with Raul (Jimenez) and Diego has this profile."

The Portuguese boss has admitted he tried to sign Costa when he joined the club in the summer of 2021, but the Brazilian wanted to return home.

"I can say now because he's here, when I got the invitation from Wolves, one of the first guys I called was (Atletico Madrid player) Joao Felix for know Diego Costa.

"Joao said good things about his personality and how he continued to play. At that time, he wanted to return to his country to play.

"If 15 months ago, when I think of him at that time, we had no chance because he had a different idea of ​​his career."

Costa's arrival eases a stark crisis as Kalajdzic suffered a serious knee injury on his debut against Southampton while Jimenez is still struggling with his fitness.

Jimenez will not be available against City.

Lage added: "Raul is still not available and still not working with the team. After the time he was recovering from his injury, he had to play three games in a row.

"We spoke and he was a bit tired, a bit like chronic fatigue. Now he needs time to recover. He's had treatment but he's not training with the team, so he is not available tomorrow.”

Kalajdzic - a £15million signing from Stuttgart - lasted 45 minutes before suffering an ACL and underwent surgery.

“The operation went well, I can see him in the building, he is excited to have the best recovery,” Lage added.

"But it was very disappointing. I've been here for 15 months and I asked for a striker with a different profile from Raul, to try to find a different profile.

"Sasa is going to be closer to the box and he just played 45 minutes for us.

"I can see him whenever he is here in the building with the motivation to recover as quickly as possible.

"This type of injury will last six months and then depend on him. At least another six months ahead of him."