Paul Lambert has been appointed as new head coach of Norwich City's Championship rivals Wolves.

Lambert was widely-tipped to replace Walter Zenga at Molineux and his appointment was confirmed on Saturday evening after Wolves' 3-2 home defeat to Derby earlier in the day.

The Scot had been out of work since leaving Blackburn in the summer, following his dismissal from Aston Villa in February 2015. Lambert, who will be formally presented on Monday, returns to Carrow Road on January 21 for Wolves' scheduled Championship visit.

'We are delighted that Paul has agreed to become our new head coach,' said Wolves' director Jeff Shi. 'He arrives at Wolves with extensive managing experience at different levels, in recent years in the Premier League and the Championship. 'Myself and Kevin (Thelwell, sporting director) have spent many hours with Paul during the lengthy interview process, and have been very impressed with his thoughts on football and his vision for Wolves.

'Ourselves and Paul share the same vision and the same mission, to achieve promotion from the Championship as soon as possible, and then aim for a higher goal in the Premier League. That mission never changes, and we are doing everything possible to realise it. We strongly believe Paul is the key and long-term leader of Wolves to achieve our goals together with the team.

'I fully understand the expectations of the fans and I believe we have learned quickly in these last three months and are now moving in the right direction.

'To achieve success we now are now aiming to have a period of stability and all work together with persistence for our common goals.'

Lambert built his reputation during a successful three-year stint at Carrow Road where he guided Norwich to a double promotion and kept them in the Premier League before opting to leave for Villa Park.