Bruno Lage: Wolves transition will be natural

John Ruddy's departure has already been officially announced, while Fernando Marcal and Romain Saiss are expected to follow him out the door as Wolves shift some of their older and more experienced players.

Although negotiations are ongoing over a new deal for Joao Moutinho, his future is also very much up in the air, as Wolves face a squad rebuild this summer.

But Lage believes this change was needed and can help Wolves 'transition' into next season, as he looks to add more of his attacking style to the team.

When asked if it was time for a new cycle with the squad, Lage said: "I don't like to talk about cycles, it's the natural transition.

"The signals that we've had all season, is to try and understand. We've learned these things with experience and reading what the big managers are saying.

"Maybe 10 years ago when I read Sir Alex Ferguson's book, he said things like that. I love my kids as sons but when they drop their performance I am the first guy to shake their hand, it's time to move on and we need to replace him to continue with these standards.

"I also want that pressure for me. You give players respect and pay their salaries, so when they are in this form and don't give the same things, we need to find solutions.

"That's why he (Ferguson) was in that position for 20 years and won titles every time. He did that with a lot of players.

"Players gave him a lot of things but in the end, shake his hand and we need to move on. We need to understand that.

"The other thing is replacing top players. Maybe Man United don't lose players because it's hard for other teams to buy them, but for us it can be easy. One player we miss, like Jota, maybe it can happen with one or two and we need to replace him in the best way.

"Sometimes it's not just player by player. We can miss one and buy two and we are more balanced as a team.

"We need to do that transition, from one season to another."