Bruno Lage: Contract issues will not distract Wolves players

Adama Traore, who currently has a deal until the summer of 2023, has been in negotiations for a new deal for a number of months.

Meanwhile, fellow first-team players John Ruddy, Fernando Marcal, Romain Saiss and Joao Moutinho are all out of contract at the end of the season.

But while Lage has expressed his desire to hold on to Traore and Moutinho in particular, the head coach says their professionalism and focus has not been in question despite their futures being uncertain.

“These kind of things are new for me, in a position as manager when you’re also aware of these concerns,” he said. “I think it will be a question when we feel the players are not there.

“The players are focused on their jobs every day, so for me it’s not a question. They need to do what they are doing and for me as a manager I’m very happy with their work. That’s the only thing we can understand. They need to continue to do it. I am happy with the job they are doing at the moment.”

Meanwhile, in response to criticism over his substitute timings, Lage says he must carefully consider several factors before bringing a player on. Some Wolves supporters have questioned why the head coach has waited until the very end of games to bring players on, with some arguing the team needed fresh legs. But Lage has said he has to be careful with his changes and how it may change the team dynamic.

“It depends on what happens in the game, you never know what can change,” he said.

“The fans love the club and support the player and manager, but sometimes they don’t understand what we need to put in our mind to make a sub. We need to question a lot of things to do subs sometimes. Like how we can organise our teams at set pieces. We have three or four guys that are strong in that position and the other guys are small.

“A good example is watching Raul. Sometimes maybe we need to change him but he’s also important to defend at set pieces. Sometimes it’s the little things the fans don’t understand.

“I was trying to do some changes (against Leeds). I was trying to put Trincao on and Rayan asked for the sub. I was trying to put the three midfielders on to close the inside game but I didn’t have that chance as I had to change a midfielder for a midfielder.

“Sometimes people don’t understand why we take these decisions, because there’s a lot of things we need to put in our mind to make the best decisions for the game.”