Julen Lopetegui 'worried' over Wolves squad size

Lopetegui, who has been vocal over his disappointment at Wolves’ financial concerns and lack of signings, has now expressed his worry over the club’s chances next season.

“We have worked hard in Portugal and we’re ready for our last friendly matches, working hard of course,” Lopetegui said.

“But in the same way, we’re worried about the future of our squad because we are going to need to improve our squad if we want to be able to compete in the Premier League.

“We found the team at the bottom in December when we came here and after it was a very hard task to get out of relegation, with a much better squad than we have this year because we had more numbers and this year we’ve lost a lot of key players and we haven’t replaced them.

“We have to continue to work and always do our best, but in the same way we’re worried for this month and the future of the transfer window, because the Premier League doesn’t forgive.

“I have had slightly different news from May and June, to July, and now we are waiting to have new players here.

“We have lost important and key players, which is a pity for us, but I am only a coach and I will try to do my best each day.”

Matt Doherty, who is one of just two signings Wolves have made this summer, also admitted the club is in a difficult position off the field and that they need additions.

“I don’t think things are perfect behind the scenes at all, but as players there’s nothing we can do about it except go out on the pitch and carry out whatever the manager wants us to do,” Doherty said.

“The season is not far away, we can just knuckle down, get training and work hard. We’ll see what happens in the transfer window, but for sure we do need some bodies.”

In a first half in which Celtic dominated the chances and hit the crossbar twice, Wolves struggled to contain them and made several basic errors in and out of possession.

Lopetegui’s side grew into the game and had good moments, before a more composed second half saw them find that equaliser.

The head coach added: “The first half they deserved more than 1-0. They deserved to score more goals and were better. In the second half we balanced the match and we deserved more.

“In the end it’s a draw but the scoreline is not important in this kind of match, it’s important to put the physical strengths in the best way and know the way we want to play with and without the ball.

“In this case, we have to improve.

“I was not happy with the first half and I think we can do better, but in the end the players tried to do it.

“We had four or five clear situations. We have the possibility to have better decisions in the box.

“We have played the same matches more or less in the same time, but I think they played better than us in the first half and we have to improve. I am going to repeat it every time I can – it’s time to improve not only the team on the pitch, but outside the pitch too.

“We need to have more outside competition, because it is the only way I know to take the best from the players.”

Doherty won the penalty for Cunha to convert, when the defender made a trademark forward run, was picked out by Fabio Silva, and then brought down by goalkeeper Joe Hart.

Doherty said: “Celtic have been in Japan and maybe they suffered a bit of jet lag because we came on strong towards the end.

“Obviously you can see most of our players were playing a lot of minutes today. It’s a good run-out in front of a great crowd on a big pitch, so I think everyone is pretty happy.

“There was close to 30,000 here for a friendly and I always love playing in the national stadium.

“Every time I come out here it’s pretty special, even if it’s not for your country.”

On Wolves’ ambitions this season, Doherty added: “We’ve not given ourselves certain goals. As a group maybe we’ll speak about that closer to the season, or maybe we won’t.

“We’ll get on with the job in front of us. We’re ambitious players and we want to achieve things that maybe people didn’t think we could.

“We’ll be going into the season full of confidence and I think we’ll do well.”