As the Wolves first-team ready themselves for the start of pre-season training in July, sporting director Matt Hobbs has provided a summer update.
Preparations for the 2023/24 campaign begin for the Old Gold next month, before summer training trips to Portugal and South Korea, and Wolves will be led by Julen Lopetegui, who is ready to embark on his first full season as head coach.
The Spaniard, his staff and players have spent time away from Compton Park, having successfully guided the club to safety, but conversations on improving the squad and building on the back end of last season have been on going between Lopetegui, Hobbs and the recruitment team.
Hobbs said: “There’s been a lot of chat about the club on the back of Julen’s press conferences before the season finished. What’s important is we’ve been in constant contact throughout. I was never in any doubt that he would remain at Wolves, but we have to acknowledge the project is different to what he thought it was. We had to allow him time to understand it and get his head around how to build a squad to be competitive in the Premier League.
“He’s committed, he loves the area and the club. You can see the affinity he has built with the fans, and I never saw a situation where he wouldn’t be our manager. We’ve been working on our strategy for the summer, and while it may be slightly different to what we thought it would be six months ago, that’s football and we have to react to it.
“I could never question his and his team’s commitment. If you look at their work ethic day in, day out, their attention to detail across all departments, the time they spend here, their families coming over, anyone questioning their dedication is completely wrong. What is fair is that his understanding of the project was different to what it is now, so you have to allow time for that to settle, especially with a manager at his level.”
With the transfer window now open, Lopetegui, Hobbs and the recruitment team are working closely to ensure any new addition to the squad will be the correct one – a collective effort which worked effectively in the winter window.
Hobbs said: “I’ve spoken to a lot of sporting directors at clubs and it’s going to be a slow start to the window for clubs at our level. We’re not the only club working within FFP limitations, and there will be a lot in the Premier League looking at this summer’s transfer window in a different way.
“Generally, the likelihood is that players will leave before we can bring new faces in. The reality is the season has only recently finished, players are away on international duty, and deals will start to happen after clubs start to return for pre-season.
“When it’s such a long race, the summer window, it’s a lot of posturing – waiting for your moment, and with every player you want to sign, there’ll always be a moment. It won’t be like the winter, where we go for six and get all six, because the summer is different because more clubs are spending money. We feel we’re in a good position for a number that we like, but obviously we have to make sure the finances balance out. What’s still a big pull for people is Julen. Players want to come and play for this manager.”
What is crucial for Hobbs and Ben Wrigglesworth [head of scouting] is having targets prepared, so when the initial window movements begin, Wolves are in a position to move swifty.
“We talk every day, myself, Daniel [Lopetegui], Julen and the recruitment team – there are no holidays for us. We have to talk because at some stage players will look to move, or a different club comes in for a player we’re not expecting. Ben and his recruitment team have done a great job of having players ready for every position, so if an offer comes in that we want to accept, we’ll have someone we can move for. Communication is several times a day, every day.
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“If we look at the impact of Mario [Lemina] and Craig [Dawson] this season. They were desperate to come to Wolves and we knew what we were going to get in terms of characters, which will be important this season, so we’re doing a lot of work on characters. Quality is obvious, but do they supplement the others on and off the pitch.
“It’s time for Ben and his team to give us options and they’ve done that. A number of the players we’re looking at we’ve been aware of for a while. We understand what worked so well in January, knowledge of the Premier League, age, experience, quality and character. Over the years, in my opinion, some of our best signings have been under the radar for comparatively low fees.”
Wolves have utilised the loan market to good effect in recent years. Morgan Gibbs-White impressed at Sheffield United, before securing a permanent transfer to Nottingham Forest, while Toti excelled at Grasshoppers, before returning to play 25 times for the Wolves first-team over the past 18 months.
With a number of players now ending their loan spells away from Molineux, Lopetegui and the club must decide where their futures lie, and Hobbs insists that each case is unique.
“They’ll have opportunities, the boys who have gone out and done well and there are clubs who have already expressed an interest in them, for loans or permanent moves. Ryan [Giles] had an unbelievable season at Middlesbrough and Luke [Cundle] went to Swansea and played a lot of football, especially towards the end of the season. Dion [Sanderson] played a pivotal role at Birmingham City and Matija [Sarkic] caught people’s eye before his injury. We are really pleased because it is unheard of for Wolves to have four players in the Championship perform to such high level and gain so much interest.
“Conor [Coady] is someone I’ve spoken to more or less every day since the season finished. He’s made it clear he’d like to come back, however there’s obviously a lot of interest in him, but the manager is speaking to him soon to get a feel for him and see what Conor wants. The type of player I’m talking about signing, Conor would be that type of player and he’s already our player, but it’s a conversation for him and the manager to have.”
For Lopetegui, a first pre-season as Wolves manager will prove crucial. The Spaniard used the World Cup break to great effect by embedding himself into the club and the group, with a winter trip to Spain, and he’ll hope the summer trips to Portugal and South Korea can give him a further insight into the ever-evolving group at his disposal.
Hobbs and his recruitment team remain at Compton Park, preparing for the lengthy transfer window, but the sporting director can already feel excitement building for a sixth successive Premier League season in Wolverhampton.
“I’ve spoken to a few of the players and I think they needed the break. It was a high-pressure situation, the staff and players worked hard, and we want them to have plenty of time away, because mentally it took a lot out of them. They had very few days off when Julen came in and his staff had even fewer days off. It was important that everyone got away to refresh.
“We’ve done a lot of analysis on what we did well and what we can improve on. We’re not going into it naively, thinking everything is perfect because we have achieved the aim we set ourselves at Christmas, because there are still lots of areas we can improve on.
“With regards to the continued strategy for the club, it is important to have perspective that we have competed at the highest level for the past five seasons, and during any long-term project there are going to be times of great success and times of challenge. What is important is that in the testing times we show resilience and togetherness to make sure we come out of the other end, like we did last season.
“What makes the challenges easier to navigate is having a strategy that underpins your actions and decisions, and that everyone believes in, and that is something we have been able to put in place in the last six months and I am confident it will see us through the challenges we face now.”
