Wolves produced another awful performance in the Premier League on Saturday against Leeds United – and one player further damaged his starting prospects.
Wolves remain pointless in the Premier League, losing 3-1 to Leeds at Molineux.
There was brief joy when Wolves went ahead through Ladislav Krejci.
But Leeds responded brilliantly, and ensured another miserable afternoon for Wanderers fans, who could be heard chanting against Fosun once again.
Wolves are in big trouble at the moment.
Pereira appears not to know his best team, and suggested as much after yesterday’s defeat.
He has chopped and changed his starting XI, but one man Pereira ought to overlook for the time being is Jean-Ricner Bellegarde.
- READ MORE: Wolves player ratings vs Leeds United as Fer Lopez shines, but 3/10 player makes another error
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde cannot be a Wolves starter
There has been a big focus on Emmanuel Agbadou at Wolves this season.
The defender is in abysmal form at the moment, which has come as a major surprise given how good he was last term.
He has continued to make mistakes for Wolves, and fans have been calling for Agbadou to be dropped.
This should happen, because his involvement has actively been costing Wolves. But another player who shouldn’t be anywhere near the starting XI at the moment is Jean-Ricner Bellegarde.
So far, Bellegarde has made six appearances for Wolves (four of which have been starts), for 286 minutes on the pitch. He has not returned any goals or assists.
Against Leeds, Bellegarde – selected ahead of Andre to partner Joao Gomes – was completely ineffective, with the E&S saying of his display: “In a terrible first-half for the club, Bellegarde lacked any real quality and was deservedly taken off at half-time.”
As per Sofascore, during his first-half showing before being taken off, Bellegarde made zero defensive contributions, and won just two of the eight duels he contested.
He had just 22 touches of the ball – only Rodrigo Gomes (20) had fewer of the Wolves players that started the game.
And he completed just 10/13 passes (77%).
Bellegarde is Wolves’ worst performing outfielder so far
Fans had high hopes this season for Bellegarde, after he had a string of good performances last season – especially when he replaced Matheus Cunha when the Brazilian was suspended.
But so far, the Haiti international – who cost Wolves just under £13 million (BBC Sport) – has underwhelmed massively, and there simply cannot be a case for him to be starting games right now.
Andre and even new signing Krejci are better midfield options.
And arguably, Fer Lopez and Jhon Arias are marginally better picks for the number 10 roles.
Disappointingly, Bellegarde currently ranks as the worst-performing outfield Wolves player in the Premier League so far this season on WhoScored, with an average match rating of just 6.04 – only Jose Sa has a lower rating (5.76)
It is a great shame, because it was noted that Bellegarde had looked confident in pre-season for Wolves. But that has not translated to the 2025/26 campaign so far.
Until he can produce a good performance coming off the bench, it is difficult to argue for Bellegarde to start in this struggling side.