Wolves are spending part of their preseason in Portugal, strengthening the club’s already strong ties with the country, and the trip has given Vítor Pereira a chance to speak to his home country’s media.
The Wolves manager is often happy to chat with the Portuguese media at length. Many of his interviews revolve around how he’s found life in England, and his famous trips to local pubs to socialise and connect with the area, but every now and again it appears there’s a distinct message he wants to get out.
That’s the case with quotes carried by O Jogo today, and Pereira clearly wanted to relay a message about his transfer frustrations at Wolves so far this summer. There’s been multiple outgoings at the Premier League club, but the action on the incoming front hasn’t been quite as big.
O Jogo quote the manager as saying: “A relationship has been created, a relationship that I hope will continue and I hope the club understands that it needs to meet the expectations of the fans, because expectations are being created, naturally, and we need reinforcements, we need to be competitive.”
Pereira explained he’s determined the club won’t have another poor start to the season and fall down to the relegation places, a situation he said is very difficult to get out of: “My ambition is to be mid-table and not always worry about the bottom spots. I want to look up. But right now, we’ve lost Cunha, we’ve lost Aït-Nouri, one to Manchester United and one to Manchester City, two very important players for us.”
The manager’s exit frustrations don’t stop there, with Nélson Semedo and Pablo Sarabia leaving also being felt as a serious blow. On the latter, he said: “Almost always first option to come off the bench and help the team.”
O Jogo state Pereira wants two fullbacks, a forward and a “quality midfielder”, and the manager added: “I want to prepare a team to start the championship competitively, but at this point, that hasn’t been possible. I hope that in the coming days there will be news about bringing in players to improve the quality of the squad.”
To make his frustrations clear, when asked if there’s time to get incoming signings ready for the new season, he said he “should already be working with them”.
In a separate O Jogo article, the Wolves boss was asked about his plans for the future, and said: “I’m thinking about doing the best I can, and getting reinforcements as quickly as possible so that I and the coaching staff can work and be competitive, very competitive, in the championship.”
