Bruno Lage pledging to take Wolves into a 'new chapter'

Several incomings and outgoings has seen Lage rebuild the squad and mark his stamp on it, after playing last season with a team that was largely built by his predecessor Nuno Espirito Santo.

Wolves are also playing in a different system and the players are getting used to a new style – and Lage says the club needed to make this jump to enter a new dawn.

Lage said: “The club wants to find a new chapter. It wasn’t in the first year when I came because of the market, Covid, and the financial situation of the club. It came at a moment when it was the right time to do it.

“I convinced the people to do it and the people had the budget to do it. That is why when we were here three weeks ago I was so confident. The way I was talking with Jeff, we could see the opportunities to rebuild the team, especially with targets we tried to bring. I was so convinced that we were going to rebuild.

“This is the team we were dreaming of. I had the strength and the power to convince the people to bring these players, so now it’s time to be behind the players. The good things will come.”

Several of the old guard have also departed, in John Ruddy, Romain Saiss, Conor Coady, Willy Boly and Leander Dendoncker – as Wolves ripped up Nuno’s old team.

“When you feel the cycle of some players is finished then you need to refresh the team to bring competition to the other guys,” Lage added.

“Should it be so drastic, six, seven, eight players out and six, seven, eight players in? Maybe not. Two or three in each (window), but we saw this market as a good opportunity to rebuild.”

High-profile additions have seen Wolves add Nathan Collins, Goncalo Guedes, Matheus Nunes, Sasa Kalajdzic and Boubacar Traore.

One of the biggest moves also saw Ruben Neves stay with the club and Wolves are still hopeful of signing him to a new contract.

Lage has said the club will need time to do that, however he believes the signings the club have made will go some way to helping them convince Neves to commit his future.

Lage said: “I spoke with Ruben at the beginning of the season about creating a good team to do good things. When he looked around, ‘Where are the new players?’

“Now, when he looks around he can see different faces, he can see quality players, better quality players to bring competition and put the team on a different level.

“We’ve bought top players to rebuild the team and we’ve continued with an important player like Ruben, who has started the season very well.

“The fans had patience for us to rebuild the squad, now they need to give us time to sort Ruben’s new contract and for the players to adapt to a new club.”