Wolverhampton Wanderers welcome recently relegated Middlesbrough to Molineux on the opening day of the Championship season, in what promises to be one of the most intriguing ties of the round.

Having been bought out by Chinese investors, Wolves are set to spend big again this summer, and have been linked with a big money swoop for Porto pair Ruben Neves and Willy Boly, who both played Champions League football last season.

Wolves have also been strongly linked with a move for former striker Benik Afobe, with the 24-year-old on the fringes of the team at Bournemouth.

Afobe was prolific during his single season spell at Molineux, and smashed 22 league goals across the course of the campaign.

Nuno Santo replaced Paul Lambert at the end of May, and has already added four players to his squad, including Ryan Bennett from Norwich and Scottish full back Barry Douglas from Turkish side Konyaspor.

The summer has been a slow one thus far for new Boro boss Garry Monk, with no news faces at the club and a number of departures, including Victor Fischer and Victor Valdes, who have left the club for new opportunities.

Monk still has a number of quality Championship players in his squad following Boro’s single season in the Premier League, and ironically, it was ultimately their failure to build on a strong Championship squad for their Premier League campaign which cost them their place in the division.

The two sides summer dealings are in the early stages, with Middlesbrough still to get off the mark.

Monk will have money to spend this summer, and will utilise the funds to bring a number of quality players to Teesside before the season kicks off in a month’s time.

Wolves look likely to bring in Neves and Boly, and the addition of Afobe could also be enough to get them over the line next season.

Both of these clubs will be up there with the big spenders by the end of the summer window, but at this stage of the season with deals drawing to a close at Wolves, I would have to tip the Black Country side to nick the win when Middlesbrough come to town in August, but that could all change depending on Monk’s ruthlessness in the next few weeks.