Wolves in Portugal: Are Nuno's men making waves in Europe?
Wolves have blazed a trail at the top of the Championship throughout this season, and their reputation on the continent is growing.
With a host of players heading to Molineux from Portugal – not to mention Nuno Espirito Santo leading from the front, Wolves are becoming something of a big noise in that part of the world.
Luke Hatfield spoke to Tom Kundert, Portuguese football expert, creator of PortuGOAL and World Soccer Magazine’s Portugal correspondent to find out just how much of an impact Wolves are making in the country.
Wolves have set-up a Portuguese twitter account recently, is there a real demand for Wolves news over recent months?
For sure.
Portuguese football fans are very interested and well educated in foreign football in general and all the more so when Portuguese players and/or coaches are involved.
Of course, the fact the big Portuguese influence at Wolves is proving such a success only adds to the desire to know more.
Media outlets have regularly run features on Wolves, such as this from A Bola:
What kind of backing are Wolves getting on the continent and in Portugal?
Like all Portuguese players/coaches abroad, people here want the Portuguese contingent at Wolves to be successful.
Is this the first time we’ve seen a club in Wolves’ position (not one of the ‘big’ clubs in England) being followed avidly in Portugal?
I guess the sheer number of players and coaching staff there means yes, although people have always kept tabs on all clubs in England with Portuguese players such as Pedro Mendes (Portsmouth), Nuno Valente (Everton), Luís Boa Morte (Fulham), José Fonte (Southampton) and many others.
Are the Portuguese public solely focused on the players and Nuno when it comes to wolves?
Yes. I think most would struggle to name Wolves player who was not Portuguese.
Are we beginning to see English football as a secondary focus to Portuguese football in the country or has football here always been heavily on the radar there?
Portuguese football fans have always been very knowledgeable about foreign football.
Everyone loves the EPL of course, and people are now much more interested in the championship as there are a lot of Portuguese players there (beyond the ones at Wolves), but all foreign football is well covered, Spanish, Italian, even Brazilian also get a lot of coverage.
Should Nuno leave Wolves in the future or Wolves sell some of the Portuguese stars, could we see fans in the country stick with the club, or will they move on in your opinion?
If Wolves didn't have any Portuguese connections fans would certainly divert there attention from them.
So don't sell them and keep an extra 10 million fans!
Have you personally had more Portuguese football fans asking you about Wolves and their success?
Sure. People are especially interested in how Ruben Neves and Diogo Jota are doing as both are expected to be part of the national team in the not-too-distant future.
