John Richards: Wolves' Portuguese pair ‘key for Bruno Lage’

Versatile forward Podence and centre forward Silva had bright spells last term, chipping in with three and four Premier League goals respectively.

But Richards believes they will grow into more consistent goal-getters and creators under former title-winning Benfica gaffer Lage, who wants to implement a more attacking brand of football at Molineux.

"Podence and Silva are both very talented, there's no doubt about it," said Richards, who scored 194 goals for the club.

"Podence showed exciting glimpses last year, as did Silva.

"Sometimes when players come into teams, it can take them a while to get that high level of consistency.

"But with both players, what we've seen is enough to excite us.

"Podence, once he's got into that rhythm and has that confidence of his place in the team, I think he can be a regular, outstanding performer.

"That's the type of player you need in the Premier League as well, someone who can do that little bit extra and create something. He's definitely got that potential.

"Silva's work rate, he gets into the positions and he's learning.

"He's learning how to hold players off as a young lad against stronger, more experienced defenders.

"Silva is a very exciting prospect and I've always thought that.

"It'll still be a couple of years until he's anywhere near his peak, but I still think he can be really good each season from now until then. So, I think there's a lot of potential there."

Podence joined Wolves for £17million in January 2020 while Silva arrived for a club-record £35m last summer.

Richards added: "Other people need to be contributing in terms of goals, and I think those two are likely to be knocking them in – helping out Raul Jimenez when he comes back."