[골닷컴] Reporter Kang Dong-hoon = The English professional football Wolverhampton Wanderers are expected to appoint Julen Lopetegui (56, Spain) as their new manager. At the same time, the ‘super agent’ Jorge Mendes (56, Portugal) is more likely to have his client as the commander.
Multiple media outlets such as British ‘The Athletic’, ‘The Guardian’ and ‘Daily Mail’ reported on the 7th (Korean time), “The Wolverhampton Wanderers are trying to appoint Lopetegui as their next manager. That’s it,” he said in unison.
Earlier on the 3rd, the Wolverhampton Wanderers announced on the club’s official website that they had broken up with manager Bruno Raj (46, Portugal). The reason was that the Premier League was in a slump this season, with only one win (3 draws and 4 losses) since the start of the season.
After that, the Wolverhampton Wanderers went straight to finding a new manager. The candidate that was initially mentioned as a strong candidate was coach Ruben Amorim (37, Portugal), who leads Sporting (Portugal). He is called the next-generation mastermind, and analysis followed one after another that he would be able to lead the ‘Portuguese Connection’ well.
However, the current has changed in the last few days. As manager Lopetegui, who was second in priority, broke up with Sevilla (Spain) and became invincible, an environment was created that could immediately enter into negotiations. Above all, it is expected that an agreement can be easily reached as it is a customer of Mendes who has a kind of agreement with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
In fact, Mendes has exerted a tremendous influence on club policy and player recruitment from the time Wolverhampton Wanderers was acquired by China’s ‘Fusing Group’ until now. He has a history of transferring many of his clients, including Hubin Neves (25), Joao Moutinho (36), Daniel Podense (26), and Pedro Neto (22). Even former coach Nunu Espirito Santo (48, Portugal) and former coach Raj were Mendes’ clients. If the negotiations go smoothly and Lopetegui takes over, Mendes’ clients will take the baton of the Wolverhampton Wanderers’ 32nd and 33rd and 34th commanders.
After leading the Spanish national team by age, Lopetegui moved to Porto (Portugal) and took over as the Spanish national team manager. After that, he took the baton of Real Madrid (Spain), but was fired during the season due to poor performance, and has led Sevilla from 2019. In his first season in office, he won the UEFA Europa League. However, at the beginning of the season, they fell into a slump and eventually broke up.
While visiting Korea during the pre-season last summer, Lopetegui made his name widely known to domestic fans. At that time, he actively participated in various Korean cultural experiences and showed good fan service in open training, building a favorable image.