HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLVES
The Chinese loved the logo so much they bought the company.. now the players scent a Man City-style rise
THE image on the club badge convinced Chinese investors to buy Wolves.
And they now aim to hunt down the likes of Manchester City and join the world elite.
Midfielder Joao Moutinho certainly sees no reason why that cannot happen, with promoted Wanderers impressing in the Premier League so far this season.
Successive wins has seen them climb to ninth in the table and one defeat in their first five games puts them a point and a place behind Manchester United, who they visit tomorrow.
Fosun, the conglomerate who bought Wolves for £30million in 2016 from Steve Morgan, have ambitious plans.
More than £100m has since been invested in new players, £60m of it in the last window. And Fosun want Wolves to become the biggest club in the world in 10 years to displace the likes of United and City.
Financing that will not be a problem for chai r man Gu o Guangchang ( far right), who has £5.4billion from assets including Club Med and shareholdings in Cirque du Soleil and Thomas Cook.
A Fosun subsidiary also has a stake in Gestifute – the agency headed by
Jorge Mendes, who has helped bring top talent such as
Moutinho (right) to
Wolves.
Guangchang looked at buying
West Brom when they were in the Premier League but felt Wolves had better potential and identified with the logo of a wolf – an aggressive hunter. Now there is genuine talk of Wolves aiming to one day eclipse champions City, where Sheikh Mansour has invested more than £1.4bn on players since taking charge in 2008. “Manchester City are one of those clubs and maybe 10 years ago they were like us,” said Portugal star Moutinho. “All the clubs want to be the best in the world. But we need to talk about the reality, the present.
“If you’ve a good present, you can be better the next year.
“You need to focus 100 per cent on this year as it’s very important. After that, we see what is better.
“If we do good things, I think it’s easier for the club to spend more money on more very good players – and it’s easier for players to want to
TOP OF THE TABLE
come here.” Amid the huge overhaul under Fosun and coach Nuno Espirito Santo, defender Matt Doherty has become their longest-serving player.
Doherty, signed in 2010, said: “You have to be at the top of your game at all times if you want to survive with the way the club wants to go.
“The players here are prepared for that to be the case and if you’re good enough you will survive.
“We’re pretty aware that the club mean business.
“They’re looking for Wolves to go as high as they can as quick as we can.
“It’s up to us, the players that are here at the moment, to try to produce for them.”