Bruno Lage addresses Adama Traore transfer situation as Wolves open door to sensational return

Bruno Lage has suggested Adama Traore left Wolverhampton Wanderers at the wrong time as he opened the door to a sensational Molineux return.

Spanish speedster Traore, 26, sees his Barcelona loan come to an end later this month and the Catalan club have no plans to buy him at the agreed £25million price. Traore has been restricted to substitute appearances in the last three months as his dream return to his boyhood club turned sour.

Wolves were in superb form at the time of Traore’s departure having won four matches on the spin to climb up the Premier League table. Traore was playing his part too with decisive contributions off the bench in wins over Manchester United, Southampton and Brentford.

Wolves have lost 10 of their 16 matches without Traore as Lage has chopped and changed his misfiring attackers. Traore’s stagnation at the Camp Nou has been difficult for Lage to watch after the Wolves boss worked tirelessly with the winger to improve his performances before Christmas.

“We will never know,” said Lage, when asked whether Traore could have made a difference at Wolves in these last four months. “The only thing I can say about that is he started the season with good performances, then after that he was not playing too much, also with not good performances.

“But after, with time and training, he started to give us the impact we needed. The last games he played for us he gave us the impact we needed. He scored goals and made assists.

“We will never know what he could have given to us if he stayed, all I can say is that when he left it was when he was in a good moment with us.”

The most likely scenario is that Wolves owners Fosun ask Jorge Mendes to move Traore elsewhere once he returns from Barcelona. Traore has