Wolves chairman Jeff Shi: Helder Costa is going nowhere

Fosun's Wolves supremo admitted there was strong interest from other clubs in signing £13m man Costa.

But he said it was his job to keep Costa at Molineux – and also believes that 'everything is in place' as far as Wolves' off-field hierarchy is concerned.

Costa made a huge impact last season after initially joining on loan from Benfica. He was voted player of the year and finished as Wolves' top goalscorer.

Shi, speaking in an official Wolves club interview which made no mention of his decision to sack Paul Lambert, said his and Costa's success at Wolves would be intrinsically linked.

"Helder is my boy!" he said. "I don’t want to see him go.

"Whether my career is successful here with Wolves is bonded very tightly with whether Helder’s career is successful.

"So we want to keep him. For this season he cannot go – that is my view.

"He is so important for the squad. He has spent one year here and it is important for him to go to the Premier League together with us.

"Of course there is strong interest from other clubs but my job is to keep him and I think he will stay."

Shi became chairman earlier this month in a reshuffle which saw Laurie Dalrymple step down from the board but continue as managing director, with Kevin Thelwell staying as sporting director.

He has also relocated full time to Wolverhampton and will have a bigger say in the day-to-day running of the club at Compton Park.

"This is 100 per cent of my job now and I am going to be staying here," Shi added.

"I am now fully committed to spending my time here and that is the best for the long term success of the club. Last season I was maybe only 40 or 50 per cent committed and that wasn’t good enough."

"I have to be very committed here, and so I am going to live here and be around every day with the team.

"I have to talk with the coach and the players, to see everything, to watch every game, communicate with the fans.

"When you are here you can get a good feeling and make quick decisions if needed.

"When you are in China, you can make phone calls and swap Whats App messages but you do not have that same feeling.

"That feeling is very important to me, to be able to make the best decisions I can in the future.

"Everything is in place now. I have a very good relationship with Kevin and Laurie and they are doing a very good job.

"Now we have a strong team with a very good head coach as well.

"It is an international team as well – Chinese owners, Portuguese coach, English team.

"I am the guy to lead the team and to make it gel together and to have a strong team as we move forward."

New boss Nuno Espirito Santo was head-hunted by Shi, with the pair having first met two years ago.

He became the fourth head coach in just 10 months at Wolves, following Lambert, Walter Zenga and Kenny Jackett.

Shi said the more he's got to know Nuno the more confidence he has in him.

"Everyone can see the pedigree of Nuno. He has coached in the Champions League.

"The most important thing is I have had many chances to talk with him about the club and players.

"He is working very hard and is a good guy. The more I talk to him the more confident I feel about him.

"I am strongly looking forward to him bringing good things for the club.

"We have a very clear plan for what we want to do and for recruitment and we talk to him every day.

"We talk about the positions where we want players and who will come and who will go.

"Last season was very tough when we were trying to build a strong squad but to do that we need more time – one, two, three more windows.

"We will want to bring in more players for the season to be more ready to challenge for promotion."

Wolves are expected to make a number of additions in the transfer market this summer.

Defenders Roderick Miranda, Phil Ofosu-Ayeh and Ryan Bennett have already joined, while Silvio, George Saville, Jed Wallace, Mike Williamson and James Henry have departed and there will be no permanent deals for loanees Richard Stearman and Andreas Weimann.

Shi believes that with a full summer – a luxury Fosun didn't have when taking over in late July almost a year ago – will benefit the club.

"Last summer we had no time after taking over," he added.

"This window we have enough time and we know the priorities that we have.

"But for some positions we have to wait for pre-season and the training camp and see how it is with the current squad and whether anyone comes forward to take up a position.

"That is the right way to do it and we have more time before the season.

"The numbers don’t matter very much, the important thing is about the quality and which positions that we need strong players for.

"The one thing we are talking about is promotion and that is what we are building a squad for.

"The money is not a problem but we just have to think about Financial Fair Play.

"In general it is no problem and we will focus on this season and not think too much about longer term.

"We just want to try and build a very strong squad for this season.

"I think the fans can see that Fosun want to support this club and we have the capability to invest.

"We are not here to save any money – the only thing we are thinking about is going to the Premier League.

"I hope people can see our ambition and be supportive to us. The most important thing is to have a full stadium and support the players for every game and have a very good atmosphere.

"It has to be very loud and try to give our home games a very good environment and to inspire the players to play even harder."