Wolves fans got their first glimpse of new midfielder Andre on Sunday – and Gary O’Neil spoke about the Brazilian after the defeat to Newcastle United.
Wanderers fell to a 2-1 defeat, having taken the lead at Molineux.
Mario Lemina finished off a nice counter-attack in the first-half, and Wolves played some good stuff and might have increased their lead.
But Newcastle came back in the second-half thanks to two long-range efforts from Fabian Schar and Harvey Barnes, neither of which goalkeeper Sam Johnstone could have done anything about.
It was a difficult result to take, but there were certainly positives.
One of the biggest pluses for Wolves was the performance of debutant Andre, who came in for praise from Gary O’Neil afterwards.
O’Neil says Andre ‘did very, very well’ v Newcastle and explains why Wolves signed him
Andre was the penultimate signing for Wolves in the summer transfer window.
The club swooped for him, paying Fluminense around £21 million, which is seen by many as great business. Andre had a number of clubs on his tail, but Wolves won the race.
Despite hardly training with his new teammates, Andre was thrown into the starting XI against Newcastle.
He was the deepest-lying player in a midfield that also included Lemina and Joao Gomes.
Andre gave an assured first display, and impressed with his use of the ball especially – he completed all 40 of his passes, which was the most by any player making their first Premier League start in the history of the competition.
After the game, O’Neil gave some thoughts about his new signing, explaining a little why Andre was targeted. He admits it wasn’t actually the plan to sign him.
He said (via E&S): “Andre has had two days with us and did very, very well. He’s a good player, which is the reason we took a sideways turn in the transfer window and signed a centre midfielder, even though that wasn’t the plan.
“We were trying to do some business in other areas and the players we could get and afford, we didn’t feel would help us as much.”
Andre will be a great signing
Andre’s performance against Newcastle was very encouraging – if he can perform to that kind of standard with only a few days training under his belt, then he will surely get on just fine in a Wolves shirt.
It was clear from his display on Sunday that he is a safe pair of hands in possession.
His ability to operate in front of the back four will afford Lemina and Gomes more license to get forward, as we saw for the goal by the captain.
It is interesting to hear O’Neil speak about the reasons for signing him, and how he wasn’t necessarily the plan initially. Hopefully, it is a decision that will pay dividends.