Podence, a speedy Portuguese winger who made the move from Olympiacos to Molineux on Thursday, joins an almost entirely fit squad who will be available to Nuno ahead of the trip to Old Trafford, with Diogo Jota and Willy Boly now both fully recovered following their recent injury layoffs.
On first impressions of Daniel Podence
“He can give us good options, he’s a solution, he fits in the profile that we think that we should do in this transfer window; bring players that can help us and make us stronger as a team.
“He’s a good player, I think he fits in our idea of the game and is a good option.”
On transfer deadline day
“It’s not finished yet. Until this day is over, you’ve been seeing things happen so far, so anything can happen. After it closes, we can have a good conversation about what happened.
“We have to realise what happens in the January transfer window is a tough moment to operate as a club and in football. Sometimes it’s a moment to rebalance your squad, take advantage of the chances you can have, but it’s not the best time to operate, for the clubs, for the agents – everything is very difficult.”
On transfers affecting match preparations
“It depends on the situation that you are. We are ok, we are ready to play, and the squad is only focused on what they have to do tomorrow. Nothing else matters.
“Of course, you start preparing in the beginning of the week, but as things go and progress, you find solutions. Decisions are not made on Monday, it’s a day by day process.”
On the return of Boly and Jota
“They already last week were options and now they are ready, and it’s good to have them back. Both fit enough.
“[Willy’s] an important player, but during his absence we have been able to find solutions, so having him back gives us one more solution for what we want for the future. I was happy, I think we performed well [in his absence], and due to the circumstances, I thought we performed really well.”
On the challenge of United
“Tough. A tough game. Going to Old Trafford is always difficult and we’re going to face a very good opponent. But we are ready and know we will need to compete well.
“Like always in all of the games, the idea is the same, we perform well and we go from there to try and improve, try to rectify the mistakes that we made , try to be more clinical in some moments, but we have to compete, we have to play good, because we’re going to be playing a good team.”
On warm weather training in Marbella
“We will finish the game, we will rest, and then we will travel to Spain to a training session camp. I think it’s a good chance [to recover].
“We’ve been doing it a lot of times, in the previous seasons also, so we’re going to repeat it.”
