Stephen Hunt admits Wolves’ determination to bring him to Molineux helped make his decision to switch to the Black Country an easy one.

Mick McCarthy finally ended his long-running pursuit of the Republic of the Ireland winger when he completed a move for an undisclosed fee from Hull, penning a three-year deal.

Hunt admits “two or three” rival clubs were in the running for his signature but Wolves finally got their man 12 months after first showing an interest, and for a fee believed to be considerably less than the £5m bid they saw rejected back in January.

McCarthy’s admiration is made all the more clear by a foot injury – sustained against Wolves back in February – which will rule the 28-year-old out of the start of the new Barclays Premier League season, although Hunt is refusing to put a timescale on his return.

But he does stress Wolves’ strong desire to secure his services contributed to making up up his mind.

He said: “Of course it has helped. When Wolves came in, and obviously I’m not fit yet, they put so much faith in me and you think ‘to be honest they really want me and I really want to go there’.

“I always wanted to come here anyway, it’s job done to an extent. I spoke to Mick when I got permission to speak, he really wanted me so that helps but I’ve got competition here.”

He added: “Obviously Hull are not in the Premier League any more and having spoken to the chief executive and the manager more importantly, I was convinced to come here.”

Hunt is Wolves’ fifth signing of the summer after Steven Mouyokolo, Jelle Van Damme, Steven Fletcher and Adlene Guedioura.