Shropshire Star

Bruno Lage: Francisco Trincao happy at Wolves

Bruno Lage has revealed there has been no official approach from Barcelona to recall Francisco Trincao from his loan at Wolves.

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Reports in Spain have suggested new Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez wants the 21-year-old to return to the Camp Nou early, however with Wolves having a season-long loan, with an option to buy for £25million and no January recall clause, they hold all the cards.

And Lage has said there has been no contact from the Catalan giants over the move.

"Nothing has come officially," he said.

"From the four wingers Trincao has played more minutes and I am very happy with him.

"I think he has improved our team and he is improving himself. He hasn't scored a goal yet but he's created a lot of chances to score.

"If Barcelona are looking, of course they can see he is improving, but there's nothing official.

"He's very happy with us. He has a big smile in training.

"It is a family club and we are happy here."

Meanwhile, Lage insists his stern stance with his players is aimed at getting the best out of them.

The head coach is an approachable and friendly character with the media and supporters, but says he is a 'different person' with his players and is demanding more.

He said: "When I come to the press I like to talk. I'm not a hard guy here.

"But in the locker room with the players I'm a different person for sure.

"My face is the face they deserve to see in each moment. You can see my face at the end of the Crystal Palace game, it was not a good face.

"We need to learn about consistency. They need to understand they can improve, why waste your time just doing enough? I want to do better.

"Every day they need to come with the ambition to work and improve. That is why I was so happy to see Joao (Moutinho) at 35 playing for the national team."

Consistency has been the buzzword for Lage in recent weeks, as he searches for prolonged periods of good play within games and positive results as a whole.

When asked how he can achieve consistency, he said: "Every time we continue to be focused in training on what we can do.

"The way we prepare in the meetings, so the players don't relax. If they feel we are relaxed, they will relax.

"The standards should be, every time, in a higher position.

"What I want for my career is what I want for my players. They need to come with that ambition to improve every day.

"If we create the competition in our squad, they know if they relax and give a chance to a team-mate, they lose their chance.

"We need to have a higher mentality to be better every day."

Lage added: "It's hard, especially in modern football.

"To have a lot of money is a problem. When you start you are hungry for titles and for money.

"That's why the character and personality is important. Here, I am happy with these guys because we have good guys to create the mentality for the young guys.

"We have guys with titles and big careers, with good salaries, but they want to improve. They have that mentality I want."