Bruno Lage believes Wolves suffered one ‘major blow’ when he was pushing for European football in the 2021/22 season.
The former Molineux boss has given an intriguing new interview with The Coaches’ Voice regarding his time at the club from June 2021 to October 2022.
Lage hasn’t spoken too much about his time at Wolves after leaving. But the 48-year-old has now shed some light on what it was like for him during his time at the club.
He has spoken about how he voiced his concerns about how the squad wasn’t prepared heading into 2022/23, admitting he wished he was a bit more forceful and persuasive to the board.
He also spoke about pushing for European football in 2021/22, and pointed to one key decision that he believes ultimately really harmed the club’s prospects…
Bruno Lage describes losing Adama Traore on loan to Barcelona as ‘a major blow’ for Wolves
Lage struggled initially at Wolves, but then picked up some really good results in the Premier League.
By February, Wolves were in contention for European football but ultimately they ran out of steam.
In January, the club didn’t really do anything, despite Lage wanting reinforcements. They brought in Chiquinho from Estoril and the youngster turned out to be an exciting addition.
But ultimately, Lage was not really backed – but he was stung with one outgoing.
Adama Traore was permitted to leave the club on loan to join Barcelona, which was a move that raised a lot of eyebrows at the time. The Spaniard had not been starting regularly for Wolves in the weeks leading up to January.
Wolves loaned him to Barcelona, without inserting an obligation to buy. After a bright start, Traore tailed off at Barca and hardly played towards the end of the season. So Wolves loaned out the player, and Barca did not trigger the option to buy they had on him in the summer.
Many felt it was a totally pointless exercise, and that he should not have been allowed to leave when Wolves were short. Dave Edwards said towards the end of that season that Wolves had ‘missed his spark’.
Lage told The Coaches’ Voice: “He had always been a key player for us, either playing from the start or coming from the bench to have an impact on games. He had been extremely important for us even that month, providing the assist for the winning goal at Old Trafford and scoring in our victory against Southampton. When he left, it was a major blow for the team.
“The squad had quality, but it was undersized. So losing any key player hurt us a lot. Especially in the centre of attack, where our depth was at its weakest.”
In the early summer of 2022, Wolves’ then-technical director Scott Sellars stated that Traore didn’t want to stay, despite being offered a new contract, and that it was simply ‘the best option’.
Traore loan decision was utter stupidity from Wolves
One has to have some sympathy with Lage on this.
The decision to loan Traore to Barcelona remains one of the most bizarre decisions the club have made since returning to the top-flight in 2018.
Wolves were in such a good position after the first half of the 2021/22 season, but the squad was small.
Traore may well have wanted to depart in order to get more minutes. But quite simply his move should never have been sanctioned due to the lack of depth.
While his end product could leave a lot to be desired at times, Traore still had the potential to do special things and produce magic out of absolutely nothing. He was always a fantastic option to come off the bench.
As Lage says, it was a ‘major blow’ to lose him. Who knows, he might just have helped Wolves to finish a few places higher in the table in 2021/22.