Alex Dicken takes a look at the main problem Wolves are facing in their pursuit of River Plate midfielder Enzo Fernandez

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Signing players is never straightforward for Wolverhampton Wanderers and the frustration of supporters is palpable almost two weeks into the official transfer window.

While lots of their Premier League rivals have already made significant moves, Wolves are still awaiting their first arrival of the summer window. Bruno Lage hoped Wolves would enjoy a busy June of transfer activity - but that hasn't been the case.

“It’s very important for us that the players are here on the first day, then we will have four or five weeks of work to start the Premier League in the best way," Lage said in May, shortly before the season finished. Lage is largely expecting to welcome back the same players when Wolves report for pre-season training at the beginning of July, minus noticeable departures John Ruddy, Marcal, Romain Saiss and Francisco Trincao.

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There is still four weeks until the club's first pre-season game against Alaves though, which gives Jeff Shi, Scott Sellars and recruitment chief Mathew Hobbs time to satisfy Lage's desire for new players. In fairness to Wolves' hierarchy, they are at least showing ambition with the players they are targeting.

Enzo Fernandez has been identified as a candidate to fill the 'box-to-box' vacancy within Lage's midfield and Wolves are prepared to meet his buy-out clause at River Plate. However, there is quite a large sticking point Wolves and Fernandez need to negotiate if a deal is to be completed.

Listing his goals during a recent interview, Fernandez said: “My dreams are to win the Libertadores with River, to play in a World Cup, which I think would be the maximum and winning it would be a privilege, and to play in Europe."

The only problem is that Fernandez's desire to win the Copa Libertadores with boyhood club River Plate could scupper his dream transfer to Europe this year. Wolves want Fernandez now, so that Lage can bed him in during pre-season, not when the Copa Libertadores finishes in October.

If Fernandez is adamant that he won't leave River before their Copa Libertadores campaign ends, Wolves have a decision to make. Do they forget about Fernandez and pursue other targets, or do they suck it up and agree to loan him back to River until January?

Even with the World Cup break in November and December, Fernandez would still miss 18 Premier League games. Premier League rules dictate that Fernandez couldn't return to Wolves from any loan spell outside of the transfer window.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola agreed a similar deal with River Plate to sign Fernandez's teammate Julian Alvarez. City paid an initial £14million to sign Alvarez in January before loaning him back to River until July. Alvarez has scored 16 goals in 21 league and Copa Libertadores appearances this year to justify Guardiola's decision to send him back to Argentina.

The array of talent within City's squad means they can afford to do that. Signing Fernandez for €20m (£17m) would be a significant deal for Wolves, hence their keenness to get him in the building right away. In order to complete the signing of Fernandez though, Wolves might have to show some flexibility.

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