Daniel Podence impact impresses Wolves boss Bruno Lage

Portugal winger Podence, 25, made a goalscoring return in a first appearance of the season since summer a groin operation in the Carabao Cup cruise at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night.

He played more than an hour and finished his goal, Wolves’ second of four on the night, well. Head coach Lage revealed he got the green light from the former Olympiakos man that he was ready to return and Podence lasted longer than initial plan of 45 minutes.

“He did well. He had two or three good chances in the first half,” Lage said. “He started working with us for one week, I spoke to him in the morning and he was ready to play.

“It was like a pre-season for him. The plan was to play 45 but I talked to him and gave him another 15 minutes and it was good because he scored one goal. That’s also important for him.”

It is understood, meanwhile, that Wolves are still yet to receive an official approach from Tottenham for star winger Adama Traore.

Former boss Nuno Espirito Santo is thought to be eyeing a reunion with the Spanish flyer, but Wolves could have been boosted in their bid to keep hold of Traore after Spurs skipper Harry Kane committed his future to the north London club yesterday.

When asked if he expects to see Traore in a Wolves shirt by the end of the month, Lage said: “Yeah, I think so. We want to create a strong team and to be competitive, that’s why we need to be competitive first inside to create this dynamic.”

“We need players training every day and then putting the best XI every match. You know the competition in the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup - we have a lot of games.

“We want to play like this and if everyone is not fit we need another player to play in his place.”

n Wolves were handed a home tie against Spurs – with Nuno returning to Molineux a few weeks after winning in the Premier League.