It seems a long time since Wolves were splashing the cash in the summer and building one of the league’s most intriguing squads.
New Wolves boss Paul Lambert has admitted that one of his first objectives at Molineux is to get the club’s highly-rated foreign legion firing in the second-tier, as reported by the club’s Twitter feed.
The former Aston Villa boss (below) was appointed as the head coach of Wolves on Saturday afternoon after their 3-2 home defeat to Derby County, replacing divisive Italian Walter Zenga who lasted just 87 days in the hotseat.
Chinese conglomerate Fosun International took control at the Midlands club in the summer and, helped by their connection to Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes, brought in a number of high-profile signings from overseas, including club-record signing Ivan Cavaleiro from Monaco.
With the exception of exciting wideman Helder Costa (below) and strapping forward Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, however, the new signings have struggled to settle in the Championship and Lambert admits that coaxing the best out of his talented squad is a must if they are to kick-start their push for the top six.
“Obviously, there’s new lads from a different culture which you’ve got to manage,” the 47-year-old said as his first official press conference, as reported on Twitter. “And the Championship is unforgiving.
“It’s a really difficult league, there’s so many games and you’ve got to be robust. I need to get a lot more out of [the new signings] than they’re showing.”
Lambert admitted that Wolves have left themselves with a lot to do if they are to fulfil their ambitious owners’ aims to securing a place in the Premier League for the first time since 2012.
However, helping the likes of Cavaleiro (below), one of the most highly rated young talents in Portuguese football, achieve their potential in the second tier will go some way to inspiring a belated push towards the higher echelons of the table.
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