Wolverhampton Wanderers have found themselves caught up in the tight relegation battle this season and Julen Lopetegui will be hoping he will have done enough to save the club from another spell in the Championship.

The Midlands club are currently four points clear of the Premier League drop zone following their important victory last weekend over Chelsea and are finally looking like they could pull away into safety over the coming fixtures with a number of clubs in a much worse position than them.

If the Wolves boss thought that the season was a hard-fought battle, he won't need to wait too long for his next one as the summer transfer window is already shaping up to be an interesting one at Molineux, with a number of players either out of contract or attracting attention from other clubs.

Adama Traore and Joao Moutinho are two stalwarts at the club who are set for contract expiration at the end of the campaign, whilst both Ruben Neves and Matheus Nunes have been attracting transfer interest from the top six clubs.

Whilst Liverpool are the well-documented club interested in snapping up the services of Nunes, Neves has a number of admirers including the Merseyside giants, Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

Will Ruben Neves stay at Wolves?

There is no doubt that Lopetegui must do everything he can to keep hold of Neves this summer, as losing his influence in the centre of the pitch could be hugely detrimental to the side next term.

The £50k-per-week Portuguese titan – hailed "absolutely class" by journalist Joe Chapman – has been a loyal servant to Wolves since joining back in 2017 when the side were in the Championship and has been integral to the club's stability since being promoted to the Premier League.

Neves ranks in the top 20% of his positional peers in the top five European leagues for shots on goal, progressive passes completed, interceptions, blocks and clearances, proving that he offers high-quality and diverse skills that are incredibly valuable to Lopetegui.

Unsurprisingly, the 26-year-old is the highest-rated player in the entire squad this season – as per Sofascore – after scoring five goals, completing 77.2 touches per game and successfully completing 73% of his dribbles so far.

Despite joining the club mid-season, the Wolves boss has already lavished praise on the club captain for maintaining his quality amid the team's struggles throughout:

"Ruben is brilliant, he’s a top player.

"He deserves everything and has been doing really well from the start of the season when maybe we haven’t been doing so well. He’s always kept his levels up and been really consistent."

With that being said, it's clear that losing the midfielder could well be the manager's first disaster. Indeed, it would be interesting to see if the club can retain their Premier League status next season without him.