Done deals: Five memorable Wolves transfer coups

But while the signing would represent a massive coup for the club, it won't be the first Wolves transfer to cause shockwaves in English football.

Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers picks out five more surprise Molineux deals.

1 Andy Gray, £1.5m from Villa, 1979

Wolves broke the British transfer record to sign Scottish striker Gray for £1.5m (with Steve Daley going to Man City for a similar fee in the same month).

It was a big coup for Wolves (Gray was PFA Player of the Year two years earlier) and Gray scored 15 times that season, including the winner in the League Cup final win over Nottingham Forest – Wolves’ last major trophy, 37 years ago.

He stayed at Molineux for four years, scoring 45 goals in 162 games.

2 Emlyn Hughes, £90,000 from Liverpool, 1979

A month before Gray joined Wolves spent a fraction of that money on 31-year-old Hughes, who had made no fewer than 665 appearances for the best team in Europe at that time, Liverpool, winning the Football Writers' Player of the Year in the year that Gray won the PFA gong (1977).

He stayed for two years, captaining the team to the League Cup win in 1980 – poetically the only trophy he hadn’t won at Anfield.

He even won the final few of his 62 England caps while with Wolves.

It was certainly £90,000 well spent.

3 Geoff Thomas, £800,000 from Crystal Palace, 1993.

A number from the early 1990s Sir Jack spending spree could have made this list, with the likes of Tony Daley, David Kelly and John De Wolf all seen as impressive deals for a second-tier club.

Thomas, though, had been playing for England a year earlier and was widely expected to join top flight Manchester City when Palace were relegated in 1993.

But Wolves, to the amazement of their fans and indeed the nation’s sporting public, landed his signature.

Boss Graham Turner admitted: “This is the most persuasive we have ever had to be to land a player. It is a terrific outcome after 14 days of hard work."

Thomas added: “I said ‘no’ a couple of days ago. There were four Premier League clubs offering me a deal, but something kept nagging away at me about Wolves. I had been knocked out by the stadium and the ambition of the place when I came here last week. The ground is just fantastic...it’s going to be one of the best in Europe. I can see that Wolves really mean business. I just felt that at this stage of my career, this was a challenge not to be missed. Wolves are going to be another Newcastle or Blackburn, I have no doubts about that.”

Sadly his judgement was, predictably, way off.

The 28-year-old was named captain but after just 10 appearances the first of many serious injuries took hold.

Thomas wouldn't reach 50 games during four years at Molineux.

4 Denis Irwin and Paul Ince, free transfers from Man United and Middlesbrough, 2002

After missing out on promotion to Albion in the most devastating manner possible, Dave Jones needed wise old heads to lift Wolves as he attempted to win promotion in 2002/03.

In 36-year-old Irwin and 35-year-old Ince he found the experience, leadership and indeed the quality he needed.

Ince was the star name but it was Irwin's capture that was arguably more impressive, coming as he did straight from Manchester United where he'd won every trophy under the sun.

"There's not a massive demand for a 36-year-old full-back," a modest Irwin said.

But he added: "The main thing is the hunger is still there. The desire to win things is still there."

Nine months later he and Ince had played key roles in helping Wolves win the play-offs, with the latter skippering the side.

Irwin would stay another year, while Ince enjoyed it so much he lasted another three.

5 Helder Costa, £13m from Benfica, 2017

Most fans hadn’t heard of Helder Costa when he moved from Benfica on loan during a mad six-week trolley dash last summer.

But by the time the club smashed their transfer record to buy him permanently, those same fans couldn’t believe Wolves had pulled the deal off (especially after sporting director Kevin Thelwell said they’d have to remortage Molineux to afford him).

Costa drew national attention when he led Liverpool on a merry dance in January but with the Premier League vultures beginning to scout him regularly Wolves – and more specifically Jorge Mendes – made the deal a permanent one, to the shock of those who'd been expecting him to move to the top flight either in January or this summer.

Many supporters, even those with a few miles on the clock, say he’s the best they’ve seen in a Wolves shirt in terms of skill and talent.

And with the Portuguese wing wizard set to stay for another season at least, Costa could be delighted the Molineux masses for a while yet.

What other big transfer coups have Wolves pulled off over the years? Let us know your favourites in the comments below.