Rising Wolves star Max Kilman keeping his feet on the ground

The 23-year-old has had a superb few weeks, helping Wolves keep three clean sheets from the last four games and also being handed a fresh five-year contract.

There is excitement over what he could achieve this season following those impressive displays, but he is only focused on Sunday’s game at Leicester and being ready for that.

“For me personally, I never set any long-term goals. I never have done,” said Kilman.

“For me, it’s just week by week, training by training, to keep working hard and keep getting better. Then things might happen.

“That’s the kind of mentality I have. Nuno and the whole staff, they don’t just say ‘it’s good enough’.

“There’s always room for improvement, always finding that little bit to work on and get better at.

“That’s the only way for us as players to improve, and get better as a squad.”

Much has been made of Kilman’s futsal background, playing for England, before his rise into the Wolves senior ranks under Nuno – making 16 first-team appearances over the past couple of seasons.

But the defender insists his non-league experience, playing for Maidenhead United – where he was signed from in 2018 – and Marlow, was a big help before learning more about the technical side to the game at Molineux.

“Of course, I have futsal in my background, but I’ve also come from non-league,” said Kilman. “Futsal was something I just played on the side when I was young, to keep myself ticking over.

“I never came from a professional environment, so I had to kind of twin-track with both sports.

“I did part-time football and part-time futsal, to kind of make it as an every-day training environment.”

He added: “The mix of both under-23s football and non-league football was good because I got the physical side from non-league, and the more technical and possession-based style from the under-23s. So, I’ve come from two good backgrounds.”

Meanwhile, under-23’s manager James Collins has revealed the club are managing an issue with Oskar Buur after the defender scored in the 3-0 win over Fulham but then had to be substituted at half-time.

“He’s got an ongoing problem with his tendons,” Collins said.

“It’s manageable. His knees get sore.

“Because he hasn’t had a lot of games of late and he suddenly plays two games in two weeks, so it’s probably too much too quick. It’s just managing his knees really. It’s not an injury but he’s got sore knees.

“I think a lot of it is scientific loads. If they have two tough weeks, then a lighter week... or two games in a week can sometimes affect it when they’re growing as young players.

“He had a couple of games with Denmark (U21s) and a couple of games with us, I think that’s the most football he’s played in six months.”