Wolves announced late on Wednesday night that they had completed the signing of Matheus Nunes from Sporting Lisbon, and that could well be the catalyst for Connor Ronan to depart the club.

The Irish midfielder has been at Wolves for the past nine years, signing as a 15-year-old from Rochdale, but has never been able to establish himself as a regular in the first team.

He has made just 13 appearances for the senior side, spending the majority of his time with Wolves out on loan, enjoying a fruitful spell at St Mirren last season, winning their player of the season award after hitting eight goals and five assists in 30 appearances.

The 24-year-old was part of Lage's pre-season squad and spoke about his hopes for the season, saying:

"It’s special to be back here after such a long period away from the club. There were times when I’d been on loans and come back and thought that maybe I might leave, or I didn’t know if I was staying or going out on loan, so just to have that chance again, and a chance in to get in front of the manager is a massive honour.

“I’ll just keep giving 100 per cent every day and keep trying to impress him. The communication he has with you is the trust he puts in you, is by giving you game time. I’ve taken that on and I'm just trying to impress him and with the minutes I do get I’m taking them as well as I can."

However, the young midfielder has been left on the bench in each of Wolves' Premier League fixtures so far and with the added competition from Nunes' signing, it seems unlikely that he will ever be a regular with the club.

After all, the new signing at Molineux is an elite talent, someone that was described as one of the best in world football by Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola. Even the best of Wolves players will find it difficult to usurp him this season, let alone Ronan who has struggled for a first-team place ever since the Old Gold were in the Championship.

With Wolves also looking likely to receive a mammoth fee of £42.5m for Morgan Gibbs-White, you would expect Lage to spend big on another attacking-midfield option as his replacement, rather than promoting the inexperienced Ronan.

Considering his contract at Wolves is set to expire at the end of next season, it is the right decision to sell him this summer while his stock is high, rather than potentially losing him for nothing in the future.