Sporting director Matt Hobbs has revealed the huge role Julen Lopetegui played in getting Joao Gomes to Wolves.
It’s another big announcement from the club today, with Wanderers completing their sixth signing of the January window in the form of the Brazilian.
Gomes arrives from Flamengo, two weeks after Wolves thought they would be signing him.
An agreement was reached with the Brazilian club. But Lyon then came to the table with a higher offer.
But the youngster has wanted Wolves since the beginning, and ultimately his stance was the main reason for the move coming to fruition.
But Gomes arrived at that stance having spoken to Lopetegui.
The Spaniard sold the project to the 21-year-old, which prompted Gomes to pretty much have tunnel vision for Wolves.
Interestingly, Hobbs has said that Gomes was actually a player that Lopetegui wasn’t initially aware of.
But once the scouting team put his name forward to the head coach and he’d researched him, he was all in.
Hobbs said (Wolves official): “What’s been great was that it wasn’t a player Julen was aware of himself before coming here. When we were talking about other players, we put him in as a player we liked, so he went away to watch his games and loved him, so has pushed from that minute.
“He’s been key in driving it, it was a player he wanted to bring in, and when he speaks to them, he’s phenomenal. The way he talks, with passion, passion he’s already got for the football club. This is a guy who has worked as some of the biggest clubs in the world. But the way he talks about our club, it makes you want to sign on the same call.”
Julen Lopetegui strikes again for Wolves, as Joao Gomes stays true to his word
Lopetegui’s reputation and pedigree has served Wolves extremely well this month.
Surely, a lot of the signings that have come in would not have made their moves had it not been for the Spaniard.
After all, Wolves are languishing at the wrong end of the Premier League table.
He clearly sells the project extremely well, and targets seem to have the belief that he will guide the club to safety first, and then onto more exciting things.
Hobbs’ comments about Lopetegui are extremely encouraging. And it’s exciting to think about who could come through the door in future windows while this man is at the helm.