Wolves defender Ruben Vinagre is almost at the end of his loan spell with Sporting CP – and it hasn’t really gone as well as he’d hoped.
The youngster headed there, after spending the second half of last season with Farmalicao.
Vinagre did really well there, and got regular game time which he did not get with Olympiacos.
Wolves recalled him from the Greek giants in January, and took the decision to send him back to Portugal.
Sporting liked what they saw from Vinagre at Farmalicao, and last summer negotiated a loan deal with Wolves to take him for the 2021/22 season.
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Nuno Mendes would go on to leave Sporting after Vinagre joined, and so it looked as though he would get plenty of chances.
And the season started well for Vinagre.
He started six of the first seven games in the Portuguese top-flight.
But that is where things peaked for Vinagre, with A Bola stating that his outing in the 5-1 defeat to Ajax in the Champions League really affected the player.
It was a torrid evening for the 23-year-old, who came up against talented Brazilian winger Antony. The South American gave him the runaround during the 5-1 defeat.
The experience saw his confidence levels take a hit, and Ruben Amorim then started turning to Matheus and Nuno Santos at left wing-back.
Vinagre then had some fitness problems, picking up an ankle injury just before Christmas which ruled him out for a few weeks.
In total, Vinagre has made 17 appearances this season, playing just 843 minutes.
According to A Bola, Sporting boss Ruben Amorim has recently been working with Vinagre daily to rebuild his confidence. The manager wants the youngster to become more ‘daring’ again.
He’s handed him cameo appearances in the last two matches against Gil Vicente and Boavista.
A tricky season for Wolves loanee Ruben Vinagre, but Sporting set to buy him
It is a shame to hear that Vinagre has been having a tricky campaign.
He really made the most of his spell with Farmalicao and it was a chance for him to really kick on.
Hopefully Amorim’s management of him will help him get things back on track.
He won’t be heading back to Wolves though. Back in February, Amorim stated that the club were going to buy the player and that that decision had been made at the beginning of the current season.