It has been widely accepted for some time but Wolves boss Gary O’Neil slipped in a telling quote during his pre-Newcastle news conference.
Wolves’ finances are known to have been restricted this window, but the manager has given the clearest indication things are changing for, potentially, the foreseeable future.
“The transfer windows now for Wolves are not what they were. [Ruben] Neves, Matheus Cunha, and Mario [Lemina] arrived for big fees. It’s different,” he said.
“The excitement, for me, is we know where we are now. We have the opportunity to upset what people expect from us this year.”
There were frustrations with the limitations during the summer, with O’Neil saying the squad was not where he expected it to be in terms of transfers, but it is clear he will meet the challenge head on.
O’Neil still has credit in the bank from a positive first season and was clearly buoyant at Compton now the window has closed and the distractions are over.
Newcastle, Aston Villa, Brentford and Manchester City await in the Premier League in their next four games but, given O’Neil’s track record of producing unexpected results, Wolves should not be written off during a tricky fixture list.