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Julen Lopetegui wants Adama Traore to sign new Wolves deal

Julen Lopetegui wants Adama Traore to sign a new contract at Wolves and has tasked the forward to fire the club to survival this season.

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Adama is currently in the last season of his Wolves contract having previously turned down a new deal.

He was sent on-loan to Barcelona for the second half of last season and was expected to leave in the summer, but a move did not come to fruition.

Fellow Spaniard Lopetegui has now called on Adama to help Wolves survive relegation and would like to see him stay long-term, but admits he does not know where his future lies.

He said: “Adama is our player. I’ve known him since he was 14 at Barcelona, he is stronger now!

“I know he has not finished the contract but the most important thing is he works hard here until June. After that, I don’t know what is going to happen. Of course, I would be very happy if he was here.”

Meanwhile, Steve Davis is in talks over taking a new role in Wolves’ academy.

The under-18s boss was interim head coach of the first team for six weeks as they searched for Bruno Lage’s successor.

Now, as a reward for his efforts, talks are taking place that could see him promoted to a new role overseeing the academy.

Davis said: “It has been discussed over the last few weeks. I’m going away for a week and after that we’ll sit down with Jeff (Shi) and Matt (Jackson) and have a look at how we connect those things better.

“There’s a little gap there, myself I need to look at that and what it entails. Football is a business. We need to sell players who don’t make our first team – the timing is important.

“We have a loan department which maybe needs a little bit more help. The opportunity to be involved in the under-18s is equally as good because I love being involved in that.

“I love changing people’s lives and moulding players ready for professional football.”

When asked if the role could be a director of football for the academy, Davis added: “I don’t know how it’ll look title-wise. I’m sure they’ll come up with a title for it.

“That’s early in the discussions, I think it would help our young players in the academy. Once they get to this building it’s not easy. There’s a lot of support that’s needed.”