Back in 2018, Wolves won the Championship title with a resounding 99 points, ending a six year absence in the top flight. Until promotion that season, they had actually been in League One more recently than the Premier League.
To begin, they took to the step up like a duck to water. With Portuguese internationals Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho in the middle of the park, Diogo Jota and Raul Jimenez in attack, and Conor Coady and Romain Saiss keeping it tight at the back, it is little wonder that Wolves were able to finish in seventh place, despite being a newly promoted side.
That finish was the club’s highest since 1980, and after Manchester City beat Watford in the FA Cup final, secured the club’s first season in European competition since 1980-81.
The 19-20 season was another strong campaign for Nuno’s side, finishing in seventh place for a second consecutive season, and reaching the quarter-finals of the Europa League, where they lost 1-0 to eventual winners Sevilla, courtesy of an 88th minute winner. Jimenez had seen a penalty saved earlier in the game.
Due to Arsenal winning the 19/20 FA Cup as a side that had finished below seventh place in the Premier League, there was to be no second season in Europe for Wolves. There has been no continental campaign in the five years that have followed, either, in a much more difficult few years for the West Midlands outfit.
In the lockdown season of 20/21, Wolves sold Diogo Jota to Liverpool at the start of the season. Just 10 games in, Jimenez suffered a life threatening head injury, and was to be unavailable from there on in.
Amidst this adversity, they finished 13th in the league, as close to relegation as European football in terms of points. That summer, Nuno’s four year stint came to an end, with nobody really there to say goodbye due to COVID restrictions.
His compatriot, Bruno Lage, took over and steered the club to a commendable 10th place finish, making it a top half finish in three of their first four seasons back in the top flight. However, there has not been a single once in the following three years.
The summer of 2022 was a confusing and frustrating one for Wolves fans, with captain and stalwart Coady loaned to Everton, and homegrown prospect Morgan Gibbs-White sold to newly promoted Nottingham Forest, despite starting the first two games of the season on his return from loan.
Despite an impressive 21/22 season, Lage was sacked in October with Wolves languishing in the relegation zone. In fact, they were bottom at Christmas, though that should be caveated with the final game before then being mid-November due to the World Cup.
For the first time since Paul Lambert in the 16/17 season, Wolves hired a manager whom wasn’t Portuguese, though not too far from home in Spaniard Julen Lopetegui, a manager with experience of coaching Sevilla, Real Madrid, Porto, and the Spanish national team.
From there, Lopetegui was able to steer Wolves to safety pretty comfortably, but more off field issues, and the sale of Ruben Neves to Al Hilal, resulted in the then 57-year old leaving on the eve of the 23/24 season, and being replaced by Gary O’Neil, straight after being sacked by AFC Bournemouth.
In his first season, O’Neil gained plaudits for his management. Wolves were able to beat the likes of Manchester City and Spurs early on in his tenure, and the likes of Pedro Neto and Matheus Cunha were thriving in the attack, with Mario Lemina bossing the midfield, and Rayan Ait-Nouri looking bright at wing-back.
However, a really poor first few months of the 24/25 season lead to O’Neil being sacked in December, after a defeat at home to Ipswich Town. Wolves then activated the release clause for Al Shabab manager Vitor Pereira, as they went back down the Portuguese route.
With ten points from his first four games, things couldn’t have started much better for Pereira. Some tough results immediately followed, but he was able to steady the ship and end the season very positively. Cunha was playing the best football of his career, the likes of Andre and Joao Gomes were superbly filling the Lemina void in the midfield.
However, the summer is already proving to be a testing one. Ait-Nouri has been sold to Manchester City, Cunha to Manchester United – whilst Nelson Semedo looks to be leaving the club as a free agent. This has caused some interesting comments from Pereira.
“I didn’t come to the Premier League to fight to avoid relegation. I came here with the idea of building a strong, consistent project. My goal is to create a competitive team that can compete against anyone, and both the club and I are looking for solutions. My ambition, and that of the fans, will be even higher next season.”
We have a good, strong team, but I’m a little worried about the situation [of losing players]. We must bring in quality players because expectations are growing.” From these comments, it is clear that Pereira is desperate for the owners to match his own ambitions.
The issue is, there is little to nothing that suggest the owners do have that same ambition. The likes of Neves and Jota have been sold since promotion, and although the likes of Neto and Lemina have proven to be good replacements – the money used suggests that has been more through luck than judgments – at least on the owners part.
Realistically, the promoted clubs cannot keep going straight back down forever. The last two seasons we have seen all six promoted teams head straight back down, but the season before none of those three did.
With the likes of Leeds United showing ambitious summer plans already, they will be looking at the likes of Wolves as low hanging fruit in terms of whom they could pip to safety next season.
Despite how poor both sides are, in reality we have to assume that neither Spurs or Manchester United will be relegated. After that, how many teams are left? Possibly West Ham, but even they have players with the pedigree of Jarrod Bowen and Mo Kudus in their ranks.
Perhaps Brentford, with the loss of Thomas Frank, and inevitable departure of Bryan Mbeumo. The rumoured appointment of Keith Andrews certainly does not excite people, quite the opposite in fact, with many Brentford fans using social media to voice their displeasure at the possibility.
However, even if Mbeumo leaves – Wolves had a bigger part of their team taken out in Cunha. Pereira’s side scored 54 Premier League goals last season – the Brazilian scored or assisted 21 of those. Meanwhile, Brentford had a combined 30 league goals from Yoane Wissa and Kevin Schade.
Furthermore, Ait-Nouri contributed 11 goals and assists, and his unique skillset will be very difficult to replace. He also played 37 out of 38 league games, with that sort of durability and reliability something that cannot be overstated. That is one thing that Cunha could not be relied on.
There is quality in the Wolves squad, there is little doubt about that. Andre and Gomes are Brazil internationals, whilst Marshall Munetsi has impressed since his winter arrival. Jean-Ricner Bellergarde provides athleticism and quality. However, all of those players are midfielders. They’d be better off if those two players had the equivalent quality, but as forwards.
Wolves fans will probably say that they have heard it all before about being threatened with relegation as a result of losing their key players. That much is true, but they can’t keep falling backwards forever. If one of the newly promoted sides are even 30% better than the three relegated sides last season – then this could well be the year they are relegated.
They have signed attacking midfielder Fer Lopez from Celta Vigo to begin their summer business. Although he seems promising, you would think they are going to need more proven quality. It would be unfair to pin all their final third hopes on a 21 year old from Spain.
There is a long way to go in terms of transfer dealings this summer, but Wolves are going to have to “get their wallets out” if they are going to guarantee that their eight year stay in the top flight does not come to an end next spring.
