Matt Maher: Wolves transfer slowdown always likely in crucial summer

That’s the easy part. Making it work is the tough bit. At this time of year, it pays to expect the unexpected.

Take Villa, for example. Back in May, Unai Emery had no desire to reshape his midfield.

One serious injury to Amadou Onana and an unwanted approach from Manchester United for Youri Tielemans later, all of that changed.

Villa have been forced into a rapid rethink, moving at pace to steal Johan Manzambi from under the noses of Newcastle, before plucking Joao Gomes from Wolves in deals worth a combined £90million.

In the space of a week, a window which had been sleepy sparked into life.

At Wolves, it has been the opposite. After a blistering start to the club’s most crucial summer in years, things have gone rather quiet. In many ways, it is still early days, yet with just three weeks before the club’s Championship campaign begins, you don’t have to listen too carefully to hear those first rumblings of discontent among supporters who expected a little more to be done by now.

Wolves doing their business both late and too often badly has been a recurring theme for several years. This time, the fans were told it would be different.

"We want to have a team well prepared to go to our pre-season so we have enough time for the players to train with each other, because there is definitely going to be a lot of new faces this year,” declared Nathan Shi back in May.

In the early weeks of the window, Wolves looked in the mood to make the chairman’s words a reality. The signings of Kieran Trippier and Raul Jimenez, both completed by the second week of June, were huge statements, proof Fosun meant business as they began to attempt turning around years of decline which had resulted in last season’s embarrassing relegation.

And since then? Just the one new face, in the shape of Rafiki Said from Standard Liege.

Otherwise, it has been rather quiet, barring Gomes’ exit to Villa and this week’s rather unwanted distraction involving Tolu Arokodare, a player Wolves want off the books but have so far been unable to shift.

There has, of course, been a very significant change elsewhere, in the dugout.

It’s uncertain how much the sudden replacement of Rob Edwards with Cesar Peixoto impacted recruitment plans but at this point, the well pushed theory that Wolves knowing their fate for so long last season would give them a headstart in planning for the next has not really come to pass.

Neither has the hope Peixoto’s arrival would be followed by some high quality additions from the Jorge Mendes stable, in the same manner as when Nuno Espirito Santo displaced Paul Lambert nine years ago.

There is still time for that to change but nearly three weeks into a pre-season the new head coach highlighted as vital to laying the foundations for his reign, he is working with a squad which may well look very different come the end of next month.

At this point of Nuno’s first pre-season, the likes of Ruben Neves, Willy Boly and Barry Douglas were already on board.

Wolves aren’t the only club where business has been slow of late. On the whole, it has been a rather subdued market and the pattern of quick start, followed by a lull has been repeated at Albion, where the early signings of Barney Stewart and Jimmy-Jay Morgan remain the only notable additions to this point.

The difference is there are few clubs in the Championship with quite so many things to sort out as Wolves. So many individual futures are yet to be determined. Who, for example, will be the club’s goalkeeper come September? Jose Sa, who along with Sam Johnstone was widely expected to leave at the start of the summer, has not yet reported back to Compton Park after the World Cup.

No doubt Shi meant it when he spoke so boldly about the club’s plans back in May.

But the position Wolves find themselves in now was always likely to be the reality during such a colossal and crucial rebuild.

The trouble with being a relegated club is you never get to call all of your own shots.

An ideal scenario would see you sign the right players as quickly as possible. In truth, it is only the first half of that sentence which matters. This window still has an awfully long way to run.

That won’t placate supporters who want to see players signed yesterday. The experience of previous years has made cynics of even the most optimistic fans. Matt Jackson’s observation, made earlier this week, about how he “really liked the shape” Wolves are currently prompted some noticeable grumbles.

Yet you hardly think Jackson or Shi are currently sat twiddling their thumbs. These things really do take time and the success or failure of a transfer window can only be judged once it is closed. More often than not, even that can be too soon.

It’s good to make the right moves quickly. But ultimately, you just have to make sure you’re right.