Bruno Lage: Wolves need ready-made first team signings this summer

The head coach has not hidden away from his desire to make changes and additions to the squad as he expects departures in the upcoming transfer window.

Toti Gomes impressed in a rare start against Norwich, in place of the injured Romain Saiss who is likely to leave the club when his contract expires this summer.

When asked if Gomes could be part of the rebuild, Lage said: “The way he is playing, yes, but we need to improve the level.

“The line of replacing players like Saiss, is a tiny line. We need to understand that those kind of players are not easy to replace. We need to find them.

“I think we should have one more striker and one more central defender, but we don’t have (them).

“The boys did a fantastic job to play for a lot of months with just three central defenders.

“First we need to replace well and then we need to bring in these kind of players.

“Toti, Chiquinho and the younger players are showing some things now, but they can improve.

“We cannot give them everything now, we need to have experienced players with quality to be there and work with them, giving them confidence and experience and then in time, one or two years, they are ready to replace.

“I know how to do it because I did it before and I know the dangers. The club also knows and Max (Kilman) is a good example of the work the club did with one player who came from the academy.

“When the time and opportunity came, he was there and he had a fantastic season.”

Ruben Neves has been heavily linked with a move away from the club this summer, prompting the Wolves fans to chant about their desire to keep hold of the star midfielder – and Lage has echoed their thoughts.

He added: “I don’t know what they sing, but if you tell me I will sing the same things!

“I need to be honest with you guys, I understand that when we are losing the rumours come from everywhere – I don’t have any problem with one of them since day one. This is because the club built top professionals and top men. It’s so hard to find these top men and top players and Ruben is one of them. He worked hard since the first day and did a good season with us.

“But we know about the market and when these kinds of players are in a good way, big clubs can appear and pay. The club lost some players before and you never know what can happen.

“Last year it was the same, everyone talked about Ruben and nothing appeared. I want the best for Ruben and I want the best for the club. If Ruben stays, I will be happy.”