PROMOTION FOR WOLVES
But big clubs are wary Championship
‘ IT’S a long winter,’ the Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce observed, when asked back in November if Wolverhampton Wanderers’ team of technicians — built around six Portuguese signings and the vast influence of agent Jorge Mendes — were going to be a problem. ‘ The crucial part is the winter,’ he added. ‘December is a big month. January is important.’
Well, those dark nights certainly didn’t impede a side who will celebrate promotion to the Premier League today after rivals Fulham could only draw last night at home to Brentford.
By February, Wolves were 15 points clear at the top of the Championship. None of the usual stereotypes about cold weather and Iberian Peninsula players have applied.
The gamble the club have taken to rejoin the top flight — spending vast sums on transfer fees and wages, despite modest £5.4million gate receipts and £3.4m sponsorship revenue — has paid off.
Had the Mendes-orchestrated bid for a seat at the top flight failed, the club would have felt the financial consequences of breaching the Football League’s financial fair play rules (FFP) and a fire sale of players may have followed.
But even though Wolves are running up greater losses than the League’s limit — which is £39 mover three seasons—a fine will be a drop in the vast ocean of Premier League wealth by the time it comes.
Just ask Leicester City. They had already won the Premier League and been on a beautiful voyage deep into the Champions League by the time they were hit with a Football League fine for breaching FFP breach in their 2013-14 promotion season. The punishment was dealt out just two months ago, after nearly a year of arbitration, and was £3.1 m—a drop in the ocean.
Many inside football are deeply unhappy about t he Mendes influence at Wolves. Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani described it as ‘not legal and fair’ after Wolves won 3-0 at Elland Road in March. He complained about letting ‘one team [be] owned by a fund whom has shares in the biggest players’ agency with evident benefits’.
Yet at least one of the British clubs now complaining is known to have sought a similar arrangement with Mendes.
Though Premier League clubs were planning to discuss Mendes’ Wolves influence at their quarterly shareholders’ meeting on Friday, sources told The Mail on Sunday it will be difficult to demonstrate any breach of rules.
‘It feels like sour grapes,’ said one experienced executive who has worked with several top Championship sides. ‘Any number of clubs would jump at the chance of having a similar relationship with Mendes.’ Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan agrees. Wolves, who will celebrate their promotion whatever the result at home to Birmingham City today, have certainly overspent well.
They twice smashed the Championship transfer record to assemble t heir £ 50m squad, though £15.8m to Porto for 21year-old Ruben Neves last August looks like extremely good value, in retrospect.
Neves, the Championship’s outstanding player, has done enough to interest the Premier League’s elite this summer. It should help Wolves’ resolve to keep Neves that he is a Mendes client. So, among many others in this squad, is Willy Boly, the on-loan Porto defender who some in the Black Country view as the club’s best defender in decades.
But manager Nuno Espirito Santo, Mendes’ first client, has done most to delight Wolves’ multi-billionaire Chinese owners Fosun — who were introduced to the club by Mendes and have taken a 20 per cent share in his Gestifute agency.
Much like Newcastle United’s Rafael Benitez last season, the 44year- old former Valencia and Porto manager recognised the need for robust qualities, as well as match-winners, in the rigorous Championship season.
Con or Coady, signed from Huddersfield Town for £2m, has impressed as a sweeper in the 3-4-3 set-up, having previously operated as a central midfielder.
Left wingback Barry Douglas (£ 1m from Turkish side Konyaspor) has been excellent. John Ruddy’s 21 clean sheets since arriving from Norwich City reveal a player reborn.
Survival next season by no means seems the limit of the club’s ambition. The arrival of £ 30m and £ 40m signings this summer seems a genuine possibility, with Fosun’s own capital value put at £60bn.
Even some of the mainstays of this campaign — Ryan Bennett, Matt Doherty and Romain Saiss — face a fight to be around for the onward journey.
This is, seemingly, a club with immediate top 10 ambitions, which may be why the Premier League elite have been privately voicing concerns.
There is not abundant evidence that Nuno will display the box office properties of his compatriots Jose Mourinho and Marco Silva in the spotlight.
He has been dour, week-to-week, at Wolves press gatherings and brusque at times. Discussion of individual players, injuries or promotion prospects have all been off limits. He doesn’t tolerate extended discussion on a subject.
On Friday, he called the Championship ‘the most difficult competition in the world’, adding: ‘In any other country you have two, three or four clubs that you know are going to fight for the title.
‘Even the teams that are relegated from the Premier League, the parachute money gives you a big advantage.’
Of course, Nuno didn’t admit that Wolves have had distinct ‘ advantages’ of their own. His club are already preparing to put them to even greater use.