'A thinner squad than the too-thin one that ended last season'

Mike Taylor, BBC Radio WM

In his final pre-match press conference last season, Bruno Lage talked of the importance of preparing well for the next campaign – referring to the lack of squad depth which has affected Wolves over the last two seasons.

"Do you know," I asked, "what your squad will ideally look like on 1st August?”

"No, no, no," he interrupted. "Not just 1st August. The first day of pre-season.

"It’s very important that the players be here on the first day, and then we’ll have four or five weeks of work before the Premier League. It’s the space in which we can explain everything.”

Well, which manager wouldn’t want that? Lage’s request was understandable, justifiable, and never likely to come true. Few clubs can be confident of completing all their deals before the players report back, and Lage went on to say that he expected a lot of waiting before a sudden rippling effect around Europe as transfers sparked off one another, stating: "The first sale is going to be like a domino."

Back in May, Wolves appeared to have one of the most coveted dominoes in Europe in Ruben Neves, and the player seemed to be bidding emotional farewells in his final appearances. Yet there he remained all summer, posing in the new kits, going on tour. The giant apparently never arrived – or at least, hasn't yet. The domino remains standing.

So it is, then, that Wolves will begin the season with a thinner one than the too-thin squad that ended the last. Raul Jimenez’s injury – just after Fabio Silva’s departure on loan – could not have been more unkindly timed.

Wolves can still field a strong team and the apparent switch to a back four will be welcomed by many. For now though, they are again more vulnerable to injury disruption than almost all their rivals.

Waiting for the perfect deal is admirable enough but in doing so, Wolves are exposing themselves to the risks that have weighed them down over the last two seasons.