Mancienne relishes Wolves move

As revealed in later editions of last night's Express & Star, the England Under-21s defender was expected in Wolverhampton today with a view to tieing up a season-long loan and sources close to Chelsea have confirmed he will be coming to Wolves.

And the 21-year-old, who played 90 minutes as England Under-21s drew 0-0 against Holland in Groningen last night, believes a second stint at Molineux can only benefit him.

"We (Chelsea) have got a lot of world class players and it's a case of patience," he said recently.

"I was meant to go back to Wolves before but Chelsea didn't allow it. But the loan gave me a massive confidence boost playing week-in, week-out in a team that likes to play. I had a lot of good experiences and I would love to be involved in more games."

Mancienne impressed so much in his 10 appearances for Wolves last winter that he was included in Fabio Capello's England squad for a friendly against Germany.

And although he failed to figure, his success at Wolves saw him finally make his debut for Chelsea and he went on to play six games for the Stamford Bridge club last season, including making his Champions League debut.

"When I came back I was involved in a Champions' League semi-final so I gained a lot of experience," he said.

But he remains Chelsea's fifth-choice centre-half behind John Terry, Ricardho Carvalho, Branislav Ivanovic and Alex and new boss Carlos Ancelotti believes he will be better served by going out on loan.

Wolves, meanwhile continued their squad reshaping ahead of Saturday's Premier League opener against West Ham by loaning George Friend to League One side Millwall for a month.

The 21-year-old left-sided player will be available for six games for up to and including September 12 against Gillingham, starting with Saturday's clash with Carlisle.

The Lions are currently without injured defenders Paul Robinson, Zak Whitbread, Pat O'Connor, Tony Craig and Danny Senda.