He will strain every sinew, fly into every challenge, pick every pass, and display all the leadership qualities developed in over 15 years as a professional to try and breathe new life into Ipswich’s bid to avoid relegation. Just as he did at Molineux back in December.
But, once the dust settles and afternoon turns into evening at Portman Road – whatever will be, will be and all that – well then, for anyone of a Wolves or indeed Wulfrunian persuasion, the story of Samy Morsy is one which should ultimately fill them with great pride.
He remains, a Wolverhampton lad. Born in the city, he attended Christ Church and Woodthorne schools before moving to Thomas Telford. His parents, Mekawy and Karen, still live locally, not all that far away from Molineux.
For eight years Morsy emerged and developed his talents and personality at the Wolves Academy. At 16, he was released, one of the cast of hundreds of thousands of footballers who have their dreams dashed and see hopes of a full-time scholarship evaporate with the cruel pain of rejection.
Morsy, though, was always been made of pretty stern stuff. And highly renowned Wolves Academy recruitment chief Tony Lacey, part of the decision-making process which saw Morsy’s great pal Nathan Rooney land a scholarship in front of him, already had a plan in place.
Via Lacey’s links, the young midfielder was recommended to John Rudge at Port Vale. After one or two teething problems at Vale, eventually, he flourished.
Morsy had taken two small steps back – Wolves were then in the Championship and Vale in League Two – but has since made so many giant leaps forward.
Well over 550 senior appearances - a substantial chunk of which have been as captain - six separate promotions, representing Egypt at a World Cup, donning the armband in the Premier League. It’s been a hell of a career.
And it all began, and was forged, in Wolves Academy.
A young Wolves Academy team with Morsy second from right on bottom row and Rooney second from right, next to manager, on second row.
“Obviously when you are working in the Academy, the main ambition is to bring players through who go on to play for Wolves,” says Nick Loftus, whose 16 years as Education & Welfare Officer co-incided with Morsy’s emergence through the ranks.
“But alongside all that, you are wanting to produce players and people who are successful wherever they end up, whether in football or other parts of working life.
“Sometimes you take as much pride, if not more, in those who make it elsewhere because that also means they have managed to overcome the disappointment of not being given a scholarship.
“And it can be just as pleasing to see them go on and achieve in other careers, accountancy for example, something which is completely different.
“But when you get someone like Samy, who you know just wants to succeed at being a footballer, to see him go on and have the career that he has will fill everyone at Wolves Academy with so much pride.
“I am sure there are many people who will have played their own small part in his development and worked with him through those years who, like me, have been delighted to keep track on his progress.”
Morsy is now 33, and his Premier League debut, against Liverpool on the opening day of the season, came into his sixth century of senior appearances.
It has been a long wait. And yet that, in itself, shows just how much of a long and winding road he has negotiated enroute to reaching the pinnacle of league football. The work he has put in, the sacrifices made.
Les Green, another former long-serving member of Academy staff who brought in so many future gems as a scout, recalls how a colleague Roger Fletcher had first brought Morsy’s older brother Nader, a quick and clever winger, into the fold.
Nader, also a bright academic alongside his football, would gradually drift away from the game having also spent time with Shrewsbury, but not before his younger brother had started coming along as well.
And that is where Rooney, from Telford, first met the younger Morsy, the pair of them a mere eight years old, to launch a friendship which is still going strong two-and-a-half decades later.
“We’d go training at Aldersley and we hit it off straightaway, on and off the pitch,” Rooney recalls.
Morsy with Wolverhampton Schools, second from the right in the middle row.
“We were both tenacious, always wanted the ball, and bounced off each other.