Nuno Espírito Santo’s Championship winners arrive looking well-prepared for life in the top flight where – for the first time ever – they will face none of their West Midlands rivals

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 10th (NB: this is not necessarily Nick Miller’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 1st in Championship

Odds to win the league (via Oddschecker): 250-1

This summer Wolves were sued. A local man took them to court at the start of August because he claimed a drawing he entered into an art competition in 1961 bears a striking resemblance to the angular wolf’s head logo the team wear on their shirt. He recently found the sketches – apparent proof of that someone must have seen them and nicked the idea – and lodged proceedings, searching for a cut of the money they have made since introducing the logo in 1979.

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This is worth mentioning, because it seems to be one of the only things going wrong at Molineux these days. After riding Jorge Mendes’s contacts, Fosun’s money and Nuno Espírito Santo’s management to a brilliant Championship season, they are back in the big time, and with a squad who can look beyond mere survival, towards the top 10. Optimism is high and probably with good reason.

The idea that they are not just aiming for 40 points and anything more is a bonus is not just an idle wonderment. “We’re looking at doing more than surviving,” the managing director, Laurie Dalrymple, said in the summer.

“I think the strategy we’ve had … has been about building a squad and a structure we think is going to be viable to take further, beyond promotion,” he continued. “We want to be excited about the fact we’re going to Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool etc but not overawed by that.” Bold words but not unjustified, given not just the strength of the side, but the capacity for adding to it.

One might think that, given the backing they have, a place in the Premier League was a minimum requirement for Wolves but it did not look that way last summer. A year ago they were assessing a 15th-place finish despite a number of pricey additions, a couple of failed managerial appointments, a new coach and a fresh style of play. Nothing was certain, and they were nobody’s idea of a shoo-in for promotion, never mind lambada-ing to the title with 99 points. They missed the century only with a 3-0 last-day defeat to Sunderland, which provided one of the season’s curiosities: they beat every team in the division at least once, apart from the relegated Mackems.

Having Rúben Neves helped. At times last season it almost felt like an imposition to make him play in the Championship, like insisting Thom Yorke could do gigs only in the back room of a pub with a plastic ukulele. When he arrived there were grave warnings about his suitability for the rough-house Championship but he took to it so easily it was almost embarrassing. And now he has been given a fairly useful helping hand, the purchase from Monaco of the experienced João Moutinho (a snip at around £5m) lending their midfield a very “master and apprentice” feel. Although in this case the apprentice may end up outshining the master.

Elsewhere, additions have been relatively limited but striking. Rui Patrício was liberated from Sporting, after the goalkeeper rescinded his contract following a season of chaos in Lisbon. That chaos included but was not limited to the loose-cannon club president Bruno de Carvalho (the guy who dubbed David Gold and David Sullivan “the dildo brothers”) calling the whole team “stupid” and suspending 19 of them after a Europa League defeat to Atlético Madrid, and 50 masked intruders invading the training ground and assaulting staff and players.

Willy Boly and Diogo Jota, on loan last season, have been made permanent signings, while Raúl Jiménez is something of an unknown quantity, the Mexico striker having spent much of the last three seasons on Benfica’s bench.

Adama Traoré is a wildcard, too. Traoré, who will presumably play at right wing-back, certainly adds dynamism to Wolves’ 3-4-3 system, but occasionally resembles one of those balloons that fly everywhere when you let them go. When Aitor Karanka managed him at Middlesbrough, he would sometimes make Traoré switch flanks to whichever side was nearest the dugout, so the manager could constantly give him instructions. Still, if Nuno can have the same impact on the winger as Tony Pulis did after he took over at Boro, Traoré might prove a bargain at £18m.

If one was inclined to nitpick, there are a few areas of potential weakness. They do not really have a centre-forward you could see scoring 10-15 goals but then again the idea a team needs one of those to survive is a bit of a myth. It is surprising they have not bought a central defender, and pre-season games suggest the midfielder Romain Saïss will drop back, a risky move given his lack of pace.

The sale of Barry Douglas to Leeds was slightly curious, if only because his set-piece delivery and crossing from left wing-back was one of their major points of attacking threat. Then there is the question of whether Nuno can manage in the Premier League, having never done so before: his retort would presumably be he had never managed in the Championship before last season either, and he coped pretty well in La Liga.

All that said, this is among the strongest and most fully formed teams to ever come up from the Championship. And it might make things all the sweeter that life elsewhere in the region is not quite as rosy. Before their recent takeover Aston Villa had to mortgage a car park to raise money for a tax bill, Birmingham are still under a semi-transfer embargo and half of West Brom’s squad seemed to make a break for the exit door after relegation.

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Crucially, all three will be in the Championship, while Wolves strut into the Premier League: this will be the first time Wolves will play in the top flight while the other three languish in a lower division. The way things are going with all four clubs, it would not be a surprise if that situation remained for a good while.