The Wolves hierarchy are reported to be unhappy with Julen Lopetegui conducting an interview with Guillem Balague recently.
Following a fantastic result and performance against Rennes on Saturday, there is now disarray at Molineux.
Lopetegui, who had seemingly committed himself to Wolves earlier in the summer, is now on the verge of leaving the club.
Today, he has been in talks over a settlement.
And Wanderers are set to appoint Gary O’Neil as his replacement.
Lopetegui has been annoyed for a while at Molineux.
He was first alerted to the FFP issues towards the end of the 2022/23 season.
Those issues then became public knowledge, and Lopetegui went away to consider his future.
He came back, seemingly ready to get on with the job.
But he’s now about to depart, with the situation having had a major impact productivity in the transfer market.
But it would seem there isn’t just ill feeling on the part of Lopetegui…
Julen Lopetegui angered Wolves hierarchy with Guillem Balague interview
Most of the talk so far has been about how Lopetegui has been let down by Wolves.
It has been suggested that the goalposts had been moved, with Lopetegui having had no knowledge of the financial situation when he first arrived.
But there is also frustration for Wolves.
According to the Daily Mail, officials were actually quite unhappy with Lopetegui recently conducting an interview with journalist Guillem Balague two weeks ago.
In it, Lopetegui once again expressed his frustrations about the club’s inability to spend and provide him with the squad he needs to be competitive.
The report states ‘The Wolves hierarchy are unimpressed with how their manager has aired his frustration at the club’s transfer policy, particularly with the interview given to a Spanish journalist last month, in which Lopetegui claimed the goalposts had moved again on transfers’.
Lopetegui’s Balague interview looks like a plan to leave
It is understandable that Wolves officials were not happy with Lopetegui doing that interview with Balague.
In it, Lopetegui only really reiterated that he was just the coach trying to do his job.
Perhaps the most interesting part of it was when he revealed that Wolves couldn’t even execute their ‘Plan B’, information the club likely didn’t want making public.
The interview is now starting to look like it was a plan cooked up by Lopetegui and Balague – a friend of his – to get him out of Molineux.
And if that was indeed the plan, then it looks like it has worked. It just remains to be seen now if he’ll get any money from the club for leaving.