Ruben Vinagre can be a Wolves star 'for years'

The 20-year-old gave another impressive cameo off the bench during Wolves’ 0-0 draw with Brighton on Saturday.

Reports have suggested Barcelona and Liverpool are eyeing the youngster’s progress.

Captain Coady believes Vinagre’s future is bright – and he wants that future to be at Molineux.

“He’s a fantastic footballer, he’s such a young player and yet he’s got such a bright future ahead of him,” Coady said. “Everybody probably thinks the best place for him is here so hopefully that is the case because he’s a fantastic footballer and he can stay here for many years.

“We like him. As long as he stays here for as many years as possible, we don’t really look at things like (transfer speculation).

“We really have got those options coming off the bench – you saw it with him and with Adama Traore as well and we have Ivan Cavaleiro and Helder Costa on the bench as well.”

Portuguese under-21 international Vinagre joined Wolves permanently last summer for just £2million from Monaco after impressing during a season-long loan in 2017/18.

He penned a five-year deal to tie him to Molineux until 2023.

Coady added: “You know what Vinagre is going to bring to the team – he’s lively and energetic.

“He’s a young lad but with a really mature head on his shoulders, when he attacks players he gets past them and gets the ball in the box.

“We know we can rely on him at any time, but that’s the same for anyone coming on.”

Fellow Portuguese player Diogo Jota twice hit the woodwork against the Seagulls during a frustrating afternoon for Wolves.

Coady bemoaned Jota’s luck and added: “He’s a brilliant footballer and a clever one as well.

“He knows when he needs to shoot early – you saw him with his header, look at how early he jumped for that chance and on another day that would have gone in.

“I thought it was in myself. But we just needed to have scored in the first half to have opened them up a little bit. We didn’t and we had to be satisfied with a point.”