From Europa League winners to Championship play-off finalists, silverware-specialists to squad-builders, Wolves are certainly hedging their bets as they scour the market for a new manager to take Bruno Lage’s place.
But how do the club’s rumoured targets compare? Who is the wheat amongst the chaff?
9) Eusebio di Francesco – free agent
Well, he’ll always have that night in Roma. It was Di Francesco who masterminded the Giallorossi’s iconic 3-0 triumph over Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals. Since then, however, Di Francesco’s coaching career has been on a rather dramatic decline.
He has left his last three jobs with a win rate lower than 30 per cent. Di Francesco was sacked by Hellas Verona after just four matches in his most recent role too.
8) Carlos Carvalhal – free agent
Given Wolves’ current predicament, hiring a coach who suffered relegation with Swansea City during his one and only Premier League job is unlikely to go down all-that well with a frustrated Molineux fanbase.
Then again, Carvalhal’s CV still makes for rather intriguing reading. He took third-tier Sheffield Wednesday to within 90 minutes of the top flight while consistently making Braga the ‘best of the rest’ in Portugal.
The affable 56-year-old, a native Portuguese speaker, would not be a particularly ambitious appointment. But nor would he be a totally baffling one either.
7) Julen Lopetegui – Sevilla
Considering that Lopetegui has been at the helm of Real Madrid, Porto and the Spanish national team while tasting Europa League glory at Sevilla, you may be surprised to see him so far down this list. The feeling over in Spain, however, is that this Sevilla side should have at least challenged for the La Liga title over the last two years. Lopetegui’s overly-cautious tactics and stupefying style of football have long since held back an immensely talented squad. Even a top-four finish looks unlikely this term, with Sevilla enduring their worst start in over 40 years.
It’s increasingly difficult to imagine Lopetegui righting Bruno Lage’s wrongs.
6) Steve Cooper – Nottingham Forest
Cooper would not be the first manager harshly fired by Evangelos Marinakis. Following an astonishing summer of recruitment – no fewer than 25 new faces arrived at the City Ground – who could blame Cooper really if he doesn’t yet know his best team, just eight games into the new Premier League season?
The Welshman, during his time at Swansea, the England U17s and throughout Forest’s promotion-winning campaign, proved himself to be a superb tactician, an excellent man-manager and a reliable developer of young talent in more settled circumstances.
5) Bo Svensson – Mainz
They certainly can pick them, Mainz. Following in the footsteps of Jurgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel and Denmark boss Kasper Hjulmand, former defender Svensson saved the 05ers from relegation in his first season and then led them to a top-half finish in the next.
“As a coach, he’s a great, great talent,” Klopp said of Svensson recently. “And has done an outstanding job so far.
“He has a heart for Mainz 05, that’s important. He brings the right mood to the club again. I’m very optimistic that things are going in the right direction with him now.”
The immediate impact Svensson made after taking over at the MEWA Arena suggests he could make a similar impression at a now Lage-less Molineux, given the chance.
4) Pedro Martins – free agent
It’s to Martins’ credit that he (well, until his sudden sacking in August that is) appeared to have done what Leonardo Jardim, Carlos Corberan and co couldn’t, and tamed Marinakis’ heart. Martins took Olympiakos to three successive Greek Super League titles. All the while, instilling an offensive, free-scoring style of play during a surprisingly lengthy spell in Europe’s hottest hotseat..
The former Vitoria Guimaraes coach also knows two members of this current Wolves squad from his time in Piraeus; Jose Sa and Daniel Podence.
According to the Express and Star, Martins is interested in picking up where Lage left out.
3) Ruben Amorim – Sporting Lisbon
The youngest name on this list at just 37. Ask anyone who knows and they will tell you that Amorim has a one-way ticket to the very top of the managerial game.
It was he who secured Sporting Lisbon first Primeira Liga title in over two decades back in 2021. Amorim then out-manoeuvred Antonio Conte while securing a famous Champions League victory over Tottenham Hotspur at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.
There might not be a more exciting young manager under the age of 40 in Europe. Well, maybe apart from Julian Nagelsmann of course.
2) Ange Postecoglou – Celtic
The only thing standing in Postecoglou’s way of being labelled a truly elite-level tactician is perhaps his lack of a proven track record in a major European league. His silver-coated CV shows success after success; the straight-talking Aussie needing just one season to drag Celtic back to the summit of Scottish football.
His fearless, fast-paced approach would also be very well received after a couple of campaigns at Molineux that would act as a useful treatment for insomnia. Just look at the way Celtic ran rings around Real Madrid for the first 50 minutes at Parkhead recently.
Postecoglou, at Celtic, has also displayed a superb understanding of the transfer market. Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate all thrived after following Ange from Japan.
1) Sergio Conceicao – FC Porto
A one-man results machine. Conceicao was a winner as a player. And he’s taking that insatiable appetite for silverware into management. Eight trophies in just five years at FC Porto is a remarkable achievement. As such, it seems only a matter of time before the Conceicao walks into a truly A-list job.
“Behind every serious and disciplined coach, there is also a great person,” says legendary goalkeeper and former Porto glovesman Iker Casillas.
“During the three years with Conceicao I came to know a man who demands the maximum. He always wants to win and transmits this will to his players.”
While Amorim has been criticised at times for a reckless approach to attacking play, while Lopetegui seems incapable of getting Sevilla to click in the final third, Conceicao is a master of both arts; the dark and the light.
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