Bruno Lage Confirmed As New Manager Of Wolves

June 09, (THEWILL)- English Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers confirmed Portuguese football manager, Bruno Lage, as their new head coach, on Wednesday.

According to the details, the 45-year-old signed a three-year-deal and will return home to Portugal before resuming for pre-season training at the beginning of July.

Lage is expected to bring on board his younger brother Luis Nascimento as he takes charge at Compton Park with a backroom team that will be announced at a later date.

After Nuno Espirito Santo left the managerial dugout at Wolves, it was not too long before the hunt for his replacement picked on Page, after considering choices like former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard and current, title-winning Rangers manager of the Scottish Premiership, Steven Gerrard.

With the Wednesday, June 2 granting of his England work permit, it became likely that he was the one to carry the responsibility of Wolves’ Premiership ambitions forward.

Lage was recommended to Wolves by football agent Jorge Mendes, who has close ties with the club. Above all else, he was considered a better fit for a squad with nine Portuguese players, who will mostly continue to feature for Wolves in the EPL in seasons to come.

He comes to the EPL as a greenhorn in English football at the top flight but it is not his first senior position. His debut was a remarkable season in charge at Benfica, in Portugal. Lage led the club to an impressive 37th league title after an 18 game win streak that led to him being named the Primeria Liga’s best coach for 2018/2019 campaign.

Part of Lage’s epoch-making season in that position was a 94 win percentage that surpassed the record set by Jimmy Hagan in the early 1970s. In addition, Benfica also equalled their own league scoring record of 103 goals which was set in the 1963/1964 season.

By contrast, his second season performance went from record-breaking at the top to record-setting at the other end and the 45-year-old had to step down from his managerial role after equalling Benfica’s worst ever series of results, recording just two wins in 13 matches of a Primera Liga season.

And now, he comes to a side that struggled to find the back of the net last season. They had managed only 36 goals by the season’s end which made them the fifth lowest scorers in the league. After securing only 12 wins, Wolves finished in 13th, a six-place drop from where they were at the end of the previous season.

Lage will appreciate the work that needs to be done and he conceded that much in his comments after his confirmation as coach was revealed: “I’m happy, excited, with a big ambition to do great things for this club. I’ll be trying to know everyone, to see what the club has to offer, and my first idea is to try to link everyone together.

“I want to create a good dynamic of group, with my staff, with all the departments of the club. I have tried to link all together to start to build up the new cycle. My ambition is to continue and to improve what (Nuno) did.”