Adama Traore is happier under Julen Lopetegui

For a while at Molineux on Saturday, it was like stepping back to 2019.

Wolverhampton Wanderers played with three at the back, Joao Moutinho split a defence with an incisive pass, Raul Jimenez spun clear of a defender and fired a shot at goal and Adama Traore popped up with a match-changing contribution.

Whether his fabulous winning goal against Tottenham Hotspur turns out to be the start of a new Wolves chapter for Traore or one of the final big acts of his Molineux career remains uncertain.

A massive moment.

— Wolves (@Wolves) March 4, 2023

For the time being, though, Traore remains a player capable of eliciting extremes of emotion, from intense frustration to thrilling elation.

As he reflected on his winner immediately after what felt like a massive victory, the subject of his future inevitably came up.

“My mindset is to give everything to the team right now and after we will see,” said the 27-year-old.

“I’m always happy with Wolves, with the manager (Julen Lopetegui). I’m working here 100 per cent, my focus is just game by game.

“My focus is on the pitch and after that it’s for my agent. We have had a great relationship through these years. My mentality right now is to help the team when I’m on the pitch and to keep winning.”

It was a predictable, standard response from a player but in Traore’s case it was actually an accurate reflection of where he stands.

With his contract due to expire at the end of the season, there are no active negotiations over an extension.

Despite polite words from head coach Lopetegui about a wish to keep the Spain international beyond the summer, he and Wolves are content to wait until the end of the campaign before sitting down to consider their options.

That does not mean that Traore will definitely leave.

The change of management from Bruno Lage to Lopetegui has made Traore happier and, according to those with knowledge of the situation, increased the likelihood that he will consider any fresh contract offer.

It is unlikely that any new deal will match the ones he has turned down, however.

Those came at the height of his Wolves career under Nuno Espirito Santo, when Traore was, for a time, Wolves’ record signing at £18million and a key figure in their counter-attacking style.

Those offers would have made him one of Wolves’ highest earners at more than £100,000 per week compared to a weekly salary of around £30,000 that he remains on under the contract he signed in 2018 when he moved from Middlesbrough.

He is a different player now with a different role under Lopetegui, for whom most of Traore’s best performances have come as a specialist substitute.

Any offer at the end of the season would reflect that shifted dynamic but money will not be the only consideration for Traore if Wolves invite him back to the table. It may not even be the main one.

He is understood to be more concerned with being a key player again wherever he ends up plying his trade. Only Lopetegui will know for sure whether he and sporting director Matt Hobbs can offer such assurances.

“That is not my decision,” said Traore of his part within Lopetegui’s masterplan. “What I can control is when I’m on the pitch, make an impact and try to help the team. This is the decision of the gaffer, I respect the gaffer.

“He has tried to improve me as a player. Whatever minutes the team needs me to help, I will be there. Every player wants to start — there are no players in the world who don’t want to start.”

Traore’s big moment was the culmination of a glorious spell of nostalgia, with Ruben Neves routinely superb in the heart of midfield and Jonny — a surprise selection at left-back in place of Rayan Ait-Nouri — turning in a solid display in his old role at left wing-back.

With Moutinho and Jimenez impressing too from the bench, it was as if Nuno’s remaining stalwarts had decided to offer a reminder that they should not yet be written off.

With Moutinho out of contract in the summer and 37 early next season, his future probably lies elsewhere. Jonny has two years remaining on his deal but has not played regularly under Lopetegui. Jimenez and Neves’s contracts expire in the summer of 2024 so their futures will need resolving this summer. Traore, meanwhile, is content to bide his time.

Many issues need resolving once Wolves have secured the Premier League safety which moved a significant step closer thanks to Traore’s wonderful goal.

But, for now, he and the old guard would like to remind you that they have things to offer in the meantime.