Bruno Lage: Wolves 'project' could be the key

The head coach has already put together his recruitment plan for the summer as he looks to add quality and quantity to his squad.

And Lage believes Wolves can be the ‘best club’ for players to start their Premier League journey, despite their 'underdogs' status.

“Every time I talk with Mathew Hobbs (chief scout), there is a feeling now that the good players who come to us come because of the way we have been performing,” Lage said.

“When we are trying to play the game with the ball it can motivate the players. Sometimes it’s difficult, but we must try to do that.

“That’s the good thing that I heard from Matt. He felt a big difference. We now have the feeling that we are the club in a position as underdogs who can compete with better teams, the way we play and we have a solid project with young players.

“If they think the Premier League is the best competition, Wolves can be the best club for them to start their careers.”

Despite that, Lage has delivered a dose of realism as Wolves compete for the best players.

The head coach admits it is hard to convince players to choose their project and that they are constantly battling with other clubs as they try to find the best players at the right price.

He added: "When you can see there’s eight, nine, 10 teams that dominate the game in the last 10 years. They have good stadiums, good academies, nice towns to live, big investment and they are fighting for competitions.

"It’s hard when a team comes, like Newcastle, or another team to find the right players and to convince them in just one year to change everything.

"A player’s career is short, they play 10 or 12 years, and the best players in the moment are in these 10 teams. You can have the money, but it’s hard to convince them to move from that team, or that city, that club that are already fighting in the biggest competitions, to come and start a new project.

"It’s hard for us. We are now in a level where we need the right players to put us on a different level, at the right price. And also we need to convince them to come here. In the end we need to bring these players to live in Wolverhampton to work with us and help us to be better.

"We need to find the player and when you find him, he has maybe 10 or 12 proposals and we need to convince him that we have the best project for them and his career.”