Tawanda Chirewa on his Wolves breakthrough and ambitions

The 20-year-old joined Wolves from Ipswich in September for just £175,000 and shone in the under-21s before being called up to the first team.

He made 10 appearances for Gary O’Neil’s side and is now ready to attack the summer and earn his place in the team.

“When I come back in for pre-season, I just want to kick on,” Chirewa said.

“That’s what I’m looking forwards to now. I wish it was happening tomorrow. I can’t wait to have a full pre-season with a gaffer because this time last summer, I wasn’t even here yet, so I can’t wait for that.

“I can’t wait to show everyone my ability and show everyone how hard I’m going to work over the summer.

“I’m not taking any days off, I’m doing everything I can to be ready for next season. I’m going to try and get bigger because I’m a little too skinny right now!

“I’ll get bigger and stronger, faster, better with the ball and just completely a better player.

“I know players are going to come in, players are going to leave, and there are still a lot of top players ahead of me, so I’m going to have to try and overtake them. I can’t wait for next season.

“The players and staff have really helped me settle, especially in training, they always include me in stuff, and it would be easy as a youngster to leave me out, like with overnights and dinners, but they’re always welcoming me into their groups and have never made me feel like an outsider.”

After achieving his Wolves breakthrough, Chirewa has continued to excel this summer by earning his senior Zimbabwe debut and scoring his first international goal.

And while the attacking midfielder is determined to improve and push on in his career, he also credits head coach O’Neil for his impact on the youngster’s ongoing development.

Chirewa added: “I’ve still got so much that I want to show the coaches, the staff, the players and the fans what I can do, so I’m just hungry to keep going.

“You have to have a belief. If I didn’t have the belief then I wouldn’t have come here.

“I wouldn’t have come to a Premier League team. I had the belief, but obviously, you’ve got to produce the performances.

“But for me, the gaffer deserves all the praise because he’s the one who pushed me into the first-team, although the players getting injured obviously helped it, but I had a belief in myself that I was able to play at this level.

“I wouldn’t say I’ve shown it completely yet, but I’m working towards it.

“The gaffer has been amazing. 100 per cent. There is not a single thing that I can fault him on, or say this or that – he’s been amazing.

“He’s helped me on and off the pitch, and even when I’ve done bits wrong, he’s been amazing with me, when I needed someone to give me confidence, he’s been there, when I needed someone to give me a kick up the a*** and a rocket, he’s given me that as well.

“He’s been amazing and he’s been the perfect manager for me at this stage of my career.

“He’s someone I wish I can play under for the rest of my career, if I could.”