Jose Couceiro is clearly a manager with his own mind – so its wide of the mark to suggest Wolves would want him to simply accept a backwards seat.
Super agent Jorge Mendes with client Cristiano Ronaldo
Wolves supporters could have been forgiven for feeling a little sceptical when Chinese conglomerate Fosun International enlisted renowned super-agent Jorge Mendes to play a major role in the club’s recruitment last summer.
And it’s no surprise that, according to The Telegraph, manager Paul Lambert is considering his future at Molineux after the owners insisted that Mendes control all incomings at the Championship club this summer.
Managers tend to be managers in Britain, after all, and the ‘Sporting Director’ tag is still viewed with suspicion. Thank you very much Franco Baldini and Roberto Di Fanti.
Therefore, employing Mendes as some kind of pseudo, unofficial director can certainly be viewed as an attempt to undermine Lambert’s position. Which is somewhat bizarre considering it was two of his January signings, Andi Weimann and Ben Marshall, who played a major role in Wolves’ late survival push.
The Express and Star report that Wolves have identified Mendes’ compatriot, Jose Couceiro, as a potential replacement. The Portuguese is currently in his third spell at Vitoria Setubal and, with Mendes having brought in a number of players from the Iberian nation last summer, the feeling is that the 54-year-old may be something of a puppet.
No Yes Man
However, a little further digging suggests the well-travelled coach is more than a yes man. According to CM Sport, Couceiro was appointed to the top job at Sporting Lisbon on a short-term basis when Paolo Sergio was sacked late in the 2010/11 season.
However, while the Sporting squad contained a number of players represented by Mendes, CM Sport claimed Couceiro was suspicious about the agent being linked with too many members of his squad.
Jose Couceiro
While appreciating how useful Mendes could be to the Portuguese giants, he was totally against the monopolisation of the market by individual agents and wanted to branch out and utilise other contacts.
Therefore, you wonder if there could be tension ahead if Couceiro was forced to field largely Mendes-owned players at Molineux.
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