China's Fosun International is seeking new funding to boost English Premier League football club Wolverhampton Wanderers as the team looks to become one of the best in Europe.

Known as Wolves, the team was promoted to the Premier League in 2018 and finished seventh in 2019 – which means it is also playing in pan-Europe competition the Europa League this season.

"We welcome any new partnership, new funding, new sponsorship to help us, to grow together with us. And to push the club to a high level in the future," said executive chairman Jeff Shi.

Fosun bought Wolves for 45 million pounds ($55 million) in 2016 and targeted promotion to the Premier League within three years. Having achieved that ahead of schedule, the long-term target is to make Wolves one of the best clubs in the world.

Now the owner is looking to emulate this success off the pitch. "We are at a stage where we are quite mature in the Premier League. Stable, steady. That is regarding the whole club, not only about the scores [on the pitch], and we need to strengthen our commercial side and the academy," said Shi, who was responsible for leading the investment in Wolves.

Fosun is planning to expand Molineux Stadium, Wolves' home ground since 1889, from a capacity of 32,000 to 50,000 within 10 years. "We are talking with the council and hopefully we can get the decision to move forward by the end of this year," said Shi.

The club is also keen to spend more money on its academy and nurture the next generation of players from an early age. "I think it is an exciting time for the club," said Wolves' academy coach Steve Davis. "There has been significant investment in various areas including the academy. There are funds to do that. There is investment in bringing in and buying players – just keeping improving the standard and quality of the players that come to the football club."

The club has also brought four young Chinese players to Wolverhampton to embed them in the football environment and culture, and let them compete with other boys in England. Shi hopes the club will pick one of them to be a potential Wolves player in the future.

"Currently, it is still difficult to find a strong Chinese player who is capable of playing in the Premier League right now," he said. "If we find one, we will sign him immediately."

Another target for Wolves is to expand its fan base beyond the UK. The club is already very popular in Portugal, because Portuguese head coach Nuno Espirito Santo has hired some of his country's best players, from goalkeeper Rui Patricio to midfielders Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho.

Wolves also has fans in Mexico because of the popularity of forward Raúl Jiménez, who plays for the Mexico national team. Wolves' third kit, which they use for European competitions, is even green – emulating Mexico's national strip.

In 2018, Wolves traveled to China for the first time in the club's history, taking part in the Premier League Asia Trophy. The club hopes to do something different to tap into the potential market in China.

"We are using the same brand, but we are doing more things than football,"said Shi. "We are doing fashion, e-sports ... and also we are trying to partner with some academies in China to work with them to find young talents in China to give them the chance to come to the UK to train with us, to play with us."

Despite a recent slowdown of Chinese investment in British football, Fosun believes Wolves is on the right track and has made a long-term commitment to the club's future.