From Portsmouth to St Mirren via Slovakia and Switzerland - how forgotten man Connor Ronan has seen his Wolves patience pay off

Even those of a Wolves persuasion – gentle reminder provided – might need prompting in order to remember the attacking midfielder who spent six months at Fratton in 2018.

Yet that was provided at the weekend, when the 24-year-old made his long-awaited Premier League debut for the Molineux outfit – five years after his last appearance for the top-flight side in the Carabao Cup.

The Irishman reacquainted himself with the Wolves fans as he came on as 89th-minute substitute in their 3-2 home defeat to Brighton on Saturday.

It might have resulted in a seven-minute outing for the diminutive playmaker, with six minutes of injury-time added on at the end.

Yet in doing so, Ronan’s patience finally paid off as he also added to the handful of ex-Pompey players currently plying their trade in the Premier League.

Indeed, it’s been a long-time coming for the ex-Republic of Ireland youth international who has spent time at five different clubs, including Pompey, since his last Wolves outing against Manchester City in the 2017-18 League Cup.

He spent the second half of that season at Fratton Park after arriving on loan with team-mate Sylvain Deslandes in January 2018.

Aged just 19 at the time, Ronan’s spell at PO4 was his maiden stint away from the West Midlands outfit, after coming through their ranks.

He made 17 appearances for Kenny Jackett’s then side in all competitions, showing plenty of promise, but disappointingly failed to find his way onto the score sheet during his six-month stay.

Time with Walsall the following season would follow, before spells with Dunajska Streda in Slovakia, Blackpool and Switzerland’s Grasshoppers.

Yet it wasn’t until his loan move to Scottish Premiership outfit St Mirren last term that the midfielder began to live up to expectations.

Ronan scored eight goals in 30 outings for the Saints as he appeared in his fourth different country.

This saw him pick up the club’s player of the season accolade, after helping Stephen Robinson’s side to a ninth-placed finish in the Scottish top flight.

After returning to Wolves once again in the summer, with his confidence restored, the player would turn down further interest elsewhere to stake a claim in Bruno Lage’s squad and become a regular on match-days.

Those appearances on the bench weren’t necessarily translated into minutes on the pitch.

And although the Portuguese is no longer in charge at Molineux, patience finally paid off for the former Pompey loanee who was given his first top-flight outing at the weekend.

This has resulted in calls from the Wolves faithful to hand the 24-year-old further game time in a bid to help their survival hopes.

The defeat to Brighton leaves them 19th in the table but the arrival of former Real Madrid boss Julen Lopetegui could bolster their chances.