Mario Lemina revealed he was determined to do everything possible to not experience Premier League relegation again when he signed for Wolves in January.
The midfielder played a key role in helping the Old Gold survive for a fifth successive time after finding themselves bottom of the table just before his arrival, but the Gabon international insisted he would not have joined Wolves if he didn’t believe they could have turned their season around.
On his first six months at Wolves
“It’s been tough. It was really tough, but I’ve really enjoyed it. I came to a good place, with good players, with a good crowd and good fans, and I knew what I had to do here, I knew the work that I’d have to pass through to get to the point that we now own.
“It’s been long, it’s been hard, it’s been tough, but we’ve really enjoyed it as a team and we were able to get this chemistry between us which was really important, and I think it’s going to be a good one for the next season. Well, I hope that it’s going to be easier next season.”
SUPER MARIO 👊 pic.twitter.com/MLXks9Zyxa
— Wolves (@Wolves) February 4, 2023
On being one of six influential January signings
“I think sometimes you need a few changes in a team, which the gaffer wanted, to put something new and work on something new, and he needed some experienced players to help him to make this change happen. And he did it well.
“He did a really good job and a really hard job and he got to the 40 points at the end of the season with all of the players involved, and that’s what we needed. He did it and we were really happy with that.”
On using his experience to help the team
“It was for me the hardest part of my life as a footballer when I’ve been relegated at Fulham, and I wanted to make sure that was not going to happen again.
“With more experience and more maturity, I came to this team and I knew what we were going to face and what we needed to do and I was ready for that. I just tried to give my experience to all of the other players and share with them what I’d learned from when I was last in that situation, so they can understand it.
“It was just about work, work, work, really hard, every single day and at the end of the day, we deserved what we’ve done.”
On always being confident of survival
“If I was thinking that we weren’t going to achieve it, I would never have come. I was really confident with that and I knew the manager from a long time where he’d been performing before, and I knew the players that we had got in the team.
“At the end of the day, I thought it would not be possible for this team to be deep in the league. Of course, something had to change and we were going to improve in some part of the game, and we were going to have these points. And I was right, so I’m really happy.”
On off-season break
“Honestly, I have so many ideas and I want to go everywhere in the world, but because I’m so tired, I’m exhausted so I need to refresh my mind with my family.
“The bad thing is my kids are in school until July so it will just be me relaxing with my wife. But we’re going to have a bit of time away and we’re going to try and enjoy that as much as we can, but just having a break from football is going to be perfect for me because it takes a lot out of you, and I’m going to come back stronger.”
