Six staff leave Wolves with Lopetegui
Left to right: Edu Rubio, Oscar Caro, Pablo Sanz, Julen Lopetegui, Juan Peinado, Daniel Lopetegui and Juan Garagarza. (Borja De Alba joined later)
Written by Training Ground Guru — August 9, 2023
SIX staff have left Wolves along with manager Julen Lopetegui, just nine months after arriving at the Molineux club.
They are:
- Pablo Sanz (Assistant)
- Juan Peinado (Assistant)
- Edu Rubio (First-Team Coach)
- Oscar Caro (Fitness Coach)
- Borja De Alba (Strength & Conditioning Coach)
- Daniel Lopetegui (Performance Analyst and manager’s son)
The seventh member of staff that Lopetegui had brought in with him in November - Technical Advisor Fran Garagarza - had already left and is now Sporting Director of Espanyol in Spain.
This means Wolves are looking for a raft of new staff as well as a new boss (with Gary O’Neil the favourite to take over).
There had previously been an effort to make club rather than manager-led appointments under previous Head of Performance and Medicine Robin Chakraverty.
He explained: "We felt that the identity of the performance and medical department at Wolves had been very dependent on the incumbent coach."
However, his appointments departed to make way for Lopetegui's arrivals.
The Spaniard joined Wolves when they were bottom of the Premier League and guided them to safety with a total of nine wins. This summer he felt the club had failed to back him in the transfer window, meaning they had reneged on promises.
“The Head Coach and club acknowledged and accepted their differences of opinion on certain issues and agreed that an amicable end to his contract was the best solution for all parties,” Wolves said in a statement.
Sporting Director Matt Hobbs added: “On behalf of everyone at the club I’d like to thank Julen and his staff for their dedication and hard work during their time at the football club. They were brought in with the primary aim of keeping the club in the Premier League last season, an objective which they achieved with games to spare.
“While our ambition had been to move into the new season together, it is public knowledge that there were differences of opinion on some key topics, and it was agreed by all parties that it would be best to part ways ahead of the new campaign.
“After a successful pre-season, full of hard work and good performances, Julen and his staff leave the squad in great shape ahead of the season opener next week, which will give his successor the best possible platform for success.
“We wish Julen and his team the very best of luck for the future, and they will always be welcome at Wolves.”
Lopetegui said: “I wish Wolves and everybody at the club the very best of luck for the future, and thank them for the opportunity granted at the time to take charge of this wonderful club.
“It has been an honour to enjoy this adventure in the day-to-day company of Matt Hobbs, Matt Wild, Head of Player Care Lisa Hollis and every single employee of the club; whom I wish to thank for their support and help at every moment.
“Also, of course, I want to thank the players, who have always given the maximum to achieve our objectives, and especially the fans that made me feel like one of them from the very first moment and have always been amazing to me, my staff and my family.”
