SHARE

Rúben Vinagre initially joined Wolverhampton Wanderers on loan from AS Monaco in 2017 and a year later, his stay at Molineux was made permanent.

Nuno Espírito Santo has sparingly used the 20-year-old as he has made only 30 league appearances (12 starts) since the start of the 2018/19 season.

However, the Wolves manager is aware of the Portugal U20 international’s qualities. Earlier this month, Nuno Espírito Santo hailed his compatriot and suggested “Vinagre is massively important to us”.

The left wing-back has given an interview to Portuguese newspaper Record and during the course of the interview, Vinagre was asked how important Nuno Espírito Santo has been in his journey.

He said: “I have a very good relationship with him. He cares about me and that was true when I was injured.

“At the time, he asked me daily how I was doing. It gave me a lot of strength and confidence to get back well.”

“And you can also see in the way he works with me every day. Always show me the path he wants for me, corrects me, works with me on the defensive level and that has been important. [He] helps me to improve.”

Vinagre shares the dressing room at Wolves with several of his countrymen and Record asked the defender about his relation with the club’s ’ Portuguese ‘armada’.

“We have a fantastic group. We get along very well. We dine together, celebrate birthdays together. It’s a really good group,” Vinagre explained. 

“But it’s not just with the Portuguese players, it’s with everyone. The English and the French [players] even try to learn to speak Portuguese [laughs]. We have a fantastic group and that is fundamental in what we have been doing.”

Wolves enjoyed a good campaign before football in England and across Europe was suspended due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

They’ve been in contention to finish in top four and are also in the race to win the Europa League.