Wolves manager Bruno Lage has revealed the latest in his side's plans for the January transfer window, with Premier League clubs having just nine days left to do business.

What's the story?

As reported by The Athletic, Lage has confirmed that Wolves' priority position to strengthen is the defence but admitted that it will be difficult to sign a centre-back, saying: "We have that idea [to buy a defender] but the market is very hard in January.

"That's why we prepare Fernando Marcal and Leander Dendoncker to play there and we bring Dion [Sanderson] and Toti [Gomes] back. Hopefully Saiss back in a couple of weeks, for now, we're going to stay like that.

“You never know. If we have a chance to bring any player who can fit our team, not just for this season but for the future, it's good for us. If not, I won't say to Jeff [Shi, the chairman] or Scott [Sellars, the technical director] to bring me a player just for four months.”

The Old Gold have already added promising Portuguese winger Chiquinho to their ranks whilst also recalling defenders Toti Gomes (Grasshoppers) and Dion Sanderson (Birmingham City) from loan spells.

However, despite Gomes and Sanderson returning, Wolves still find themselves relatively light at the back, with Willy Boly injured and Romain Saiss on Africa Cup of Nations duty with Morocco.

Wolves fans will be seething

With Lage is adamant that Wolves play with a back-three, the Molineux faithful will be desperate to see more quality added to their team's defensive ranks. The Old Gold have prided themselves on their defence since the Portuguese manager took charge, with only Manchester City conceding fewer than Wolves' 16 goals so far in the Premier League this season.

The preferred trio of Saiss, Conor Coady and Max Kilman have been excellent together, whilst goalkeeper José Sá has been a revelation. However, this combination isn't necessarily sustainable, as shown with Saiss' departure for international duty.

Should one of those three be absent, Wolves are suddenly left with a lack of high-quality, reliable options. They were lucky that Toti Gomes handled his Premier League debut against Southampton well, given that the 23-year-old had been playing in the Swiss Super League beforehand.

Moreover, Sanderson's only experience of first-team football is a season in League One with Sunderland and half a campaign in the Championship with Birmingham. It would therefore be a risk to throw the 22-year-old in at the deep end immediately.

Adding high-quality personnel at the back should ease Wolves fans' nerves and ensure that, if another of the favoured three defenders is sidelined, Lage won't have a dilemma and will confidently call upon the designated back-up.

If that doesn't happen, though, the Molineux faithful may well be seething over the failure to add some much-needed alternatives at centre-back this month.

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