Jean-Ricner Bellegarde enjoyed a very good second half of 2024/25 for Wolves.
The Frenchman had struggled a bit under Gary O’Neil, after coming in as the replacement for Matheus Nunes in the summer of 2023.
Bellegarde shone on his debut against Liverpool, but then failed to show consistency, with injuries not helping his cause.
But it all changed for Bellegarde when Vitor Pereira arrived last December.
He was given a few outings in midfield, and Matheus Cunha’s suspension also allowed him to operate from an inside left position a handful of times.
In the end, he finished the season with seven assists to his name and two goals – six of these nine goal contributions came under Pereira.
Ahead of his third season at Wolves, Bellegarde has admitted there are two things will be looking to do a lot more in games – and they’re two things fans saw plenty from Cunha.
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde wants to become more of a goalscorer for Wolves
Bellegarde’s improvement in the second half of last season was great to see.
There was always a player in there, but at times he just wasn’t helped by having his position chopped and changed and injuries also stopped him from really kicking on.
Bellegarde now finds himself as one of the more experienced players of the group and expectations on him will be higher in 2025/26.
And ahead of the new campaign, Bellegarde has said that he wants to score more goals for Wolves, and also take more risks.
He said in an interview with the E&S: “For me I need to score more, with more pace, more everything for the team. I’ll try to give my best.
“Now I have more confidence. I need to try a lot because I don’t take risks a lot.
“I need to take more risks and show everyone. When I play, I speak with the team, all together, concentrating on us.
“I need to do my best work. If all the players think like this, we can do better in more games because you need to concentrate on yourself and after you can do the best game.”
The confidence Bellegarde touches on was also noted by Liam Keen as he interviewed the player, and hopefully that is going to really help him fly in 2025/26.
Bellegarde must step up for Wolves in 2025/26
It will be really interesting to see where the bulk of Bellegarde’s minutes for Wolves will come this season.
We all know that Andre and Joao Gomes – who Bellegarde believes can help him – are nailed-on starters in the middle.
Bellegarde could potentially play with them as a third midfielder, but we haven’t really seen that too often, given Pereira’s love of playing two number 10s.
But one thing is for sure, this is now a big season for Bellegarde.
| Jean-Ricner Bellegarde for Wolves (2023-present) |
| Appearances – 65 |
| Goals – 4 |
| Assists – 8 |
He finally came out of his shell last season, and Wolves now need him to kick on further, with Cunha, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Pablo Sarabia all leaving.
From his comments, it does sound as though he acknowledges the need to improve in the final third.
It would be absolutely brilliant to see him score more goals and take more risks. Those are two things Wolves fans regularly saw from Cunha.
So if we did see that, then the blow of losing the Brazilian would certainly be softened.