How Nuno Espirito Santo is rebooting Wolves

It was in the dressing room at the MSV Arena, after the 1-0 defeat to Sevilla in last season’s Europa League quarter-final, when the Wolves reboot began to take shape.

Nuno Espirito Santo had known for months that a shake-up was required, but it was the performance in Duisburg that convinced him to undertake major surgery on his squad this summer.

Six weeks later, Diogo Jota and Matt Doherty have been sold, Wolves have smashed their transfer record and Nuno has committed the next three years of his life to his own Project Restart.

Standing still is simply not in Nuno’s make-up, and the style of play established in the Premier League over the last two years - built on counter-attacking football and switches of play to the wing-backs - is evolving.

In July last year, shortly before the start of Wolves’s Europa League odyssey, Nuno suggested that a fresh approach was around the corner.

“I know a new cycle is coming. In two seasons the football in the Premier League will change,” he said.

“I know what I’m trying to build and improve is going to change. It’s a lot like chess. I’ve tried to put myself inside the other managers’ heads. If I played against Wolves, what would I do?”

Nuno wants his teams to now rely more heavily on possession, with the intention to dominate games rather than chase them and wait for the turnover.

Moving away from such an effective game-plan is a gamble, but he believes it is necessary to keep the club on an upward trajectory.

The summer recruitment to carry out the next phase has been ruthlessly executed. While the work of ‘super-agent’ Jorge Mendes and his deputy at agency Gestifute, Valdir, is impossible to overlook, the rebuilding job is all down to the Portuguese head coach.

The £45 million sale of Jota to Liverpool has been the most calculated decision, yet Nuno had made that call in the final weeks of last season.

There can be no revisionism over Jota’s three years at Molineux - he was outstanding following his move from Atletico Madrid, scoring 44 goals in 131 appearances and emerging as a key weapon in Nuno’s armoury.

He epitomised Wolves’ fearless approach when facing the bigger clubs, wreaking havoc with Raul Jimenez and Adama Traore.

But last season his stats did drop off. Daniel Podence, the £17m buy from Olympiacos, already has double the number of assists in two Premier League matches that Jota managed in the whole of last season.

Equally, Jota was seeking a new challenge so the deal worked for both clubs.

Another key player from the last three years, Doherty, has also been moved on - to Tottenham Hotspur.

Jota and Doherty are both Gestifute clients but Nuno essentially felt neither player could do the job he envisions for his team this season - so the notion that Mendes has a degree of control over Wolves and Nuno’s decision-making is inaccurate.

Nuno sanctioned their departures almost dispassionately, demanding that the sales be completed as quickly as possible. He does not believe in players hanging around the place who will not be involved, as Patrick Cutrone, Jesús Vallejo and now Ryan Bennett have discovered.

That cold, clinical approach has been a constant - shortly after Wolves had been promoted and were preparing for the Sky Sports video shoot, left-back Barry Douglas arrived at the training ground to be informed he was being sold to Leeds.

Douglas had played 39 games in the Championship title season but had fulfilled his job, and was now not required.

Nuno makes the final decisions on who to sign, and has absolute power over transfers. The transfer hierarchy consists solely of chairman Jeff Shi and Nuno.

Shi relies on the advice and support of chief scout Matt Hobbs, head of academy Scott Sellars and club secretary Matt Wild, but this is Nuno’s baby.

The signings this summer have been eye-catching and made at vast expense. Fabio Silva, the 19-year-old forward, is the club record signing at £35m from Porto. Wolves view the deal as a “no-brainer” as Silva once had a €125m release clause and is regarded as one of the brightest young talents to emerge from Portugal since Cristiano Ronaldo.

Nélson Semedo arrived from Barcelona for an initial £27.5m this week, signed as Doherty’s replacement. This is where Mendes comes in, as he was the one who performs the sales pitch on behalf of Nuno, convincing him to swap the Camp Nou for Molineux.

Mendes carried out the same job by persuading Ruben Neves and Jota to join Wolves in the Championship, and his involvement has enabled the club to emerge as an attractive proposition to players across Europe.

A regular with Barcelona and a Portugal international, Semedo’s sale was sorely required for the La Liga club’s finances which have taken a huge whack from Covid-19.

There are other crucial signings, such as Ki-Jana Hoever from Liverpool. Hoever made his debut against Wolves in the FA Cup and has been monitored ever since.

He is only 18 and ticks a number of boxes for Wolves: he is versatile (right wing-back or centre-half), has huge potential and will also count as a homegrown player when he turns 21.

Wolves face West Ham away on Sunday evening, and the two clubs could not appear to be more disparate in their strategies.

Nuno is aware that the modifications will require patience, but there have already been tangible signs of progress against Sheffield United and Manchester City.

He has high hopes for Podence and Pedro Neto to step up in Jota’s absence, while in Jimenez he has unquestionably one of the finest centre-forwards operating in world football at the moment.

The ‘old guard’ of defenders Conor Coady and Willy Boly, midfield master Joao Moutinho and Traore remain integral members of the Wolves set-up.

“I think we already have our identity, it is clear and evident,” said Nuno on Friday. “It is there for everyone to see, how we operate and do things, our philosophy as a club and our idea of football.

“This foundation of knowledge that we already have can provide us with a good way to make one more step forward.

“The game has already changed, and now it is different. It’s trying to find the small details that can change big things.”