This article is part of Football FanCast's In The Pipeline series, which takes a look at some of the most promising young talent either linked with clubs or emerging from their academies...

Wolverhampton Wanderers academy system is slowly but surely starting to prove its potential as more and more youngsters are handed an opportunity amongst Nuno Santo's first-team setup.

Last weekend saw Owen Otasowie and Luke Cundle part of the matchday squad as Sheffield United were welcomed at Molineux.

Fosun's long-term ambition at the club is to start building from within so to see their Portuguese boss presenting chances is merely an encouraging first sign.

Watch Wolverhampton Wanderers Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

In the summer, they will see backup goalkeeper John Ruddy come to the end of his contract after three years at the club, so it may be wise for Nuno to delve into the youth system to find a new number two to Rui Patricio.

And given the 31-year-old's experience in the game, which includes multiple trophies at international level, it could result in many benefits for the club, especially in achieving such long-term targets.

They also have the perfect prospect to step up and do exactly that - Andreas Sondergaard.

Wolves handed the highly-rated 18-year-old a new contract back in January but is yet to be involved with the first-team.

Speaking about him, the academy's head of player development Scott Sellars said: "We think he’s got a lot of potential which we saw his potential playing for the national team with Denmark, and he suits how we want to play. He’s very good with his feet, and technically he’s as good as anyone I’ve seen for a long time in terms of his distribution. It’s good to see he’s still developing, he’s still growing and gives good protection, making important saves in his games."

Last season in the Premier League 2, the teenager kept eight clean sheets in 21 matches.

Given that Ruddy had only featured in the Carabao Cup this season, it would make sense for the role to be handed to an emerging talent like Sondergaard rather than splashing out on someone in the summer that is only going to warm the bench.

[ad_pod ]

In other news, have other transfer links spurred on the performance of Matt Doherty this season?