Wolverhampton Wanderers appointment of Fran Garagarza to Julen Lopetegui’s backroom staff is an attempt to ‘have more freedom’ from Jorge Mendes in the transfer market.
That’s according to Estadio Deportivo, who cover the appointment of the Spanish coach to Lopetegui’s team today.
The new Wolves boss confirmed this week that Garagarza and his son, Daniel Lopetegui, would be a part of the scouting network at Molineux under his leadership.
Both are somewhat unknown entities given they’ve spent their careers in Spain thus far and Estadio provide a background on Garagarza today.
They label him as an ‘elite sporting director’, stating that he was one of the ‘most sought-after’ managers in Spanish football, where he is ‘highly-regarded’ for his work.
This comes from his ten-year spell in charge at Eibar, where they enjoyed the best period of their existence as a regular fixture in La Liga.
His work there earned him plenty of praise and suitors, with Real Zaragoza having been keen and Betis also considering him before deciding on Antonio Cordón instead.
Now he’s at Wolves, and that move is seen as an effort by Julen Lopetegui to ‘have more freedom’ in the transfer market and not be ‘constrained’ by Jorge Mended.
He is de facto sporting director at Wolves because their owners, Fosun, have a good relationship with him and his agency.
That’s seen a number of Portuguese players turn up at Molineux down the years, but Lopetegui wants to move beyond that and broaden the scope at the club.
Garagarza has been brought in to do so and Estadio say he is ‘undoubtedly’ an appointment that will help the club ‘turn around’ under their new manager.
