Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Mick McCarthy has admitted to being puzzled by the relative lack of movement in the transfer market so far this summer.

McCarthy has drafted in Jelle Van Damme, Steven Fletcher, Steven Mouyokolo and Stephen Hunt since the end of last season and has been more active than a number of his Premier League counterparts.

He told the Birmingham Mail: “I’ve no idea why it’s slow. People have budgets and can they get the players? Do they want to get better players who are costing too much?

“Teams have done that in the past. Do they want to make sure and wait? Are they all playing a bit cagey?

“I guess all those reasons come into play and players wait and try to be clever and cute and don’t accept the first thing.

“We’ve got five weeks to name our squad of 25, so I don’t think that’s causing any grief. It’s the start of the season that’s more important, surely.

“I can’t see any of the clubs who haven’t signed players suddenly going out and signing five or six. That would be hard to integrate them.

“We are all kinda fishing in different pools. There is a section where we can go and buy, there is a section others can go and buy – then there’s Manchester City.

“Even Manchester United and Liverpool don’t appear to be doing much, but there are little pockets of players we all know we can do business with.

“The players know that as well. They might have two or three clubs in their ears, so they can be selective.”