Despite only turning 18 on Monday, Matt Hobbs believes Pedro Lima has shown great maturity in deciding his future lies with Wolves over the other options available to him this summer.
The sporting director said the club has high hopes for the latest addition to Gary O’Neil’s squad, who signed for the Old Gold on a five-year deal after showcasing his potential with Sport Club do Recife in Brazil in Serie B.
Despite having lofty expectations of what the teenager can bring to Molineux, Hobbs maintains Lima will be given the time he needs to settle not only into a new club, but a new league, country and culture having flown thousands of miles away from home.
On an 18th birthday to remember
“My 18th birthday was quite different to his – let’s put it that way! He’s had quite the week; turning 18, getting engaged, and moving to a foreign country, so it’s been a big time in his life and his career.
“He made a big decision in deciding to come to us over Chelsea and for a 17-year-old boy to make that decision shows a real sign of strength, but he’s all about football, so he’s just excited to get going and meet all the boys when they’re back later this week. It’s nice to have new signings done before pre-season training starts.”
On overcoming competition for Lima’s signature
“It’s one we’ve worked on a while now and he was always a player we wanted to bring in this window. That was always the plan, but we thought it might have been later in the window. But when Chelsea became involved and had agreed with Recife, it was a case of having a day to get it done, and thankfully Jeff was really supportive and we were able to do it.
“There was lots of competition, and I don’t mean this in an arrogant way at all, but had we been able to do it straight away, then there wouldn’t have been any [competition]. Ben Wrigglesworth [head of scouting] went out and sat down with him, presented him the plan, how we saw him, the work we’d done on him and showed him the project. Being the only club who flew out not to negotiate or talk about money, but show him the plan, I think he really brought into Ben and they built a really good rapport.
“We are a club that sells our project through pathway, opportunity and connection, while other clubs use different tools like location, size and money. Luckily what appeals to Pedro is who and what we are.
“We don’t paint a picture to be anything it’s not, because when they get here, it would be something completely different. We sell it through honesty and sincerity, and if you do that, people buy into it. We understand that we might just be a part of Pedro’s journey, but we hope he’s part of a successful era in our journey, and that the two fit really nicely together.”
On what Lima brings to the club
“Off the pitch, he has a real attitude to learning. He also has huge ambition and he put that to Gary [O’Neil] on his call, so Gary and the coaches know where he wants to get to and they will work with him to be better and improve. He has a massive desire to be the best player he can be.
“On the pitch, he’s a highly regarded young player, but he’s still a young player none the less, who has moved to a foreign country. Even though with Matheus, Joao [Gomes], and all the Portuguese speaking player we have, so it should be comfortable for him from that way, but on the pitch, we’re hoping to see a really exciting young player who has no pressure from us in these early stages. We’ll allow him time to progress and settle, but Pedro is one we have huge hopes for.”
On Cunha’s influence in the signing
“When Matheus heard it had been announced he was very quick to send me a voice note congratulating himself on his work on getting Pedro here! But that’s all part of it. When we talked about what we do differently, from Ben flying out and Gabriel, our Brazilian scout, being really important in that, through to our players reaching out, it just shows what a family we are.
“They’re not just reaching out to say how great it is here, but they’re showing they care. That’s Wolves. That’s who we are. We saw that on the pitch a lot last year and that’s the culture we’re trying to create around Compton.
“There’s no doubt that with Cunha coming from the same place, his mum supporting the team and loving that player, but alongside Matheus having that humility to reach out to a young boy and speak positively of the club, speak positively about his love of Wolverhampton and what he’s enjoying here, that’s all part of what we can offer a player.”
On learning from Semedo
“I expect him to come in and to push the players who might be ahead of him at the moment. Through his attitude, through his work on the pitch, his work in the gym and the way he looks after himself, I expect him to be really competitive.
“Like we’ve talked about with Rayan [Ait-Nouri] and Hugo [Bueno], I think they’ve really pushed each other on and I expect Pedro to aim to reach Nelson and Doc and the other full-backs we have.
“Nelson is such a great pro and a great person for Pedro to learn from. He’s done it at the highest level for so long and last season was so good for him, and he’s held in such high esteem by the rest of the squad, so I think there’s no better right-back to learn from than Nelson, and he’s such a good guy he will work with Pedro and help him, but I expect him to put pressure on Nelson, because that’s what we all want.”
On helping him settle in Wolverhampton
“The two people he has coming with him – Renato and his wife, who he’s incredibly close to – will be really important, but here, part of the reason our players are so comfortable and settle so well is the way they are looked after off the pitch by Lisa [Hollis, head of player care] and her team.
“But also, Compton is so tight knit and everyone is working in the same direction, we don’t have huge egos, everyone buys into it, but there’s also that nurturing and pastoral side to it as well, so everyone knows we’re taking a boy from thousands of miles away from his home and we have to challenge him, but also give him the time to grow and develop.
“He’s only 18 and most of us when we were 18 were not having to deal with what’s he's dealing with and although he has expectations on himself, all the people here are set up to take everything off the pitch, to allow him to focus on everything that’s happening on the pitch.”
Click here to hear Matt Hobbs' thoughts on fellow signing Jorgen Strand Larsen.
