Vitoria Setubal have answered back, bluntly and publicly, following claims they refused a Wolves approach for their manager. Over the past week it’s been claimed that Wolves made an effort to hire Vitoria manager José Couceiro, but were met with the refusal of the club.
That’s not strictly the case, according to Vitoria.
In their Sunday edition, Portuguese newspaper O Jogo carry quotes from a source close to the board at Vitoria, who is quoted as saying: “President Fernando Oliveira could never have been responsible for stopping the departure of coach José Couceiro for Wolverhampton, simply because the club has never been approached in that regard by the English side.”
Whilst that denies a Wolves approach direct to Vitoria, it doesn’t deny a Wolves approach to the manager, and it’s now thought that’s what happened.
The Championship club contacted Couceiro and weren’t met with an enthusiastic reply, so there was never a reason for Wolves to then contact Vitoria to try and take things further.
At least, that’s the stance Vitoria are pushing out.
