Wolves were heavily linked with a move for Blackburn Rovers striker Ben Brereton Diaz during the summer and had the Chile international arrived at Molineux he could have saved Bruno Lage's job.

The Championship striker was tipped to complete a move to the Premier League after a superb season with the Ewood Park outfit, which saw him contribute a hugely impressive 22 goals and three assists in 37 appearances, which helped him average a 7.06 rating from WhoScored for his performances.

Wolves were linked with signing the Chilean by Football League World after his superb 2021/22 campaign, with 90min claiming that he would cost around £20m.

Meanwhile, in the Old Gold's squad last season, Raul Jimenez would finish as the top scorer in the Premier League with six goals and Wolves managed just 38 in the top flight, so perhaps the writing was on the wall for Lage this season after such a woeful start in front of goal.

It was no surprise, therefore, to see Wolves linked with a plethora of strikers during the transfer window, although only Sasa Kaladjzic would arrive despite the departures of Fabio Silva and Patrick Cutrone.

Lage's plans were scuppered when the Austrian forward damaged his ACL on his debut against Southampton, which left the Portuguese manager with a serious deficiency of attacking options.

The former Benfica man opted to bring in Diego Costa on a free transfer after seeing his side manage just three strikes in nine Premier League games but he has offered little in his opening four appearances, with Lage sacked following a 2-0 defeat against West Ham.

So far this season, Brereton Diaz has eight goals in the Championship, which is nearly double the number scored by Wolves in the Premier League, which suggests that he could have been a quality addition the squad, especially given the Old Gold's woes in front of goal.

After scoring in a recent 2-0 win over Sunderland, which briefly sent Blackburn to the top of the Championship, manager Jon Dahl Tomasson was full of praise for Brereton Diaz.

He said: “Ben is a brilliant player. That ability to score goals, we love that, and beautiful goals as well. He’s always a threat. He always gets chances, he works hard for the team as well."

Meanwhile, Costa has provided next to no threat in his Wolves appearances thus far, averaging one shot per game and a shocking 6.1 rating from WhoScored for his performances, which suggests that Brereton Diaz would have been a much better option, both now and in the long term.

Had the 23-year-old "goal machine" - in the words of Alan Nixon - made the move to Molineux and come up with the number that Wolves have struggled so much to produce, then he could have even kept Lage in the job.