Wolves beat off interest from several other clubs to secure his services with a four year deal.

Stearman, who was a member of the England under 21 squad for their games against Bulgaria and Portugal in November 2007, was born in Wolverhampton before moving away from the area at an early age.

He had previously played at England junior level and, although only 20-years-old when he moved to Molineux, he had already amassed 130 appearances for Leicester.

Stearman made one of the centre back positions at Molineux his own as he kicked off his Wolves career and was also rewarded with his first England-under-21 cap in the 2-0 win against the Czech Republic at Bramall Lane in November, 2008.

And the defender marked his 37th league appearance of the title-winning 2008/09 season with his first goal, the headed winner on injury time of the final day of the season against Doncaster.

He then spent part of the summer in Sweden as England-under-21s reached the final of the European Championships, playing the full game in the draw in the group stages with eventual winners Germany.

Stearman made an impressive start to life in the Barclays Premier League, scoring in the draw with Hull towards the start of the season and producing a high level of consistency on the right hand side of the defence.

However, after beating sent off at home to Wigan in January, 2010, Stearman lost his place to Ronald Zubar and the Frenchman's form saw him keep his place for the remainder of the season.