Wolverhampton Wanderers savior Julen Lopetegui will be holding talks this week with the club’s chiefs in the coming days regarding the club’s transfer plans this summer amid fears arising that he is prepared to leave the club.
Lopetegui’s first game coincided with Boxing Day with the club then sitting inauspiciously bottom of the Premier League but the Spaniard more than proved his worth as he subsequently led them to a comfortable position of safety in the top flight.
January then saw the club investing heavily in the transfer window, which now hampers their ability to do so again this summer, with captain Ruben Neves among the leading candidates to depart for a fee of about £45million.
Ahead of Wolves’ clash with Everton last weekend, Lopetegui inferred he had no cognizance whatsoever of Wolves’ financial position, saying:
“I have had that meeting [with chairman Jeff Shi] and there are some Financial Fair Play problems I didn’t know before.
“I hope we will solve this issue. It’s very difficult to compete in the Premier League without investment.
“Despite the club investing this year it has been a very hard year so we have to learn the lesson and do our homework to try to improve the team.”
When it was put to him if he is confident the club can solve the problems, Lopetegui added: “I hope so. It’s one thing I didn’t know before. I hope we’ll be able to improve to compete next season.”
Premier League rules stipulate that clubs can only post losses of £105m over a three-year period and, in their last financial results, Wolves posted a £46.1m loss, having invested significantly to the tune of about £153m on transfers last summer, recouping about £54m, in a serious endeavor to ensure they stayed in the Premier League.
Lopetegui’s fine work at Molineux – not to mention his previous creditable tenure with Porto, Sevilla and Spain – mean a number of clubs will be significantly following his situation with more than cursory interest.