When attacking midfielder Pablo Sarabia completed a permanent move to Wolves from Paris Saint-Germain, he was reunited with his former head coach Julen Lopetegui.

Sarbaia signed a two-and-a-half-year deal at Molineux during the January 2023 transfer window, with the switch providing a first experience of English football just months after representing Spain at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

A product of the world-renowned Real Madrid academy, Lopetegui first spotted the midfielder while leading Spain’s under-19s group back in 2011, when he named Sarabia as his captain for Spain’s winning U19 European Championship campaign.

On Madrid books at the time of that tournament, but it’s at Getafe where the midfielder learned his trade in the professional game, turning out almost 150 times for the La Liga outfit, before stepping up the Spanish pyramid with Sevilla in 2016.

That’s where Sarabia truly flourished. In his three seasons with the club, he hit double figures, with his final campaign bringing 23 goals and 17 assists, earning him a place in the La Liga Team of the Year, which led to recognition by the Spanish senior team for the first time.

For Spain, he earned 26 caps before joining Wolves, appearing at Euro 2020 alongside club teammate Adama Traore, bagging against both Slovakia and Croatia as Spain reached the semi-finals, as well as the World Cup in Qatar just last month.

It was also those eye-catching stats at Sevilla which paved the way for a move to PSG in 2019, just one month after Lopetegui’s arrival at the Spanish club, and in the French capital he became a Champions League goal scorer, netting against former club Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.

Eight honours came in Paris, as well as a role in PSG’s route to the Champions League final in 2020, appearing in the quarter and semi-finals, before being named on the bench as Thomas Tuchel’s side were beaten by Bayern Munich.

With opportunities limited at PSG, Sarabia spent last season on loan at Sporting CP and hit his Sevilla heights, registering 22 goals and 11 assists in Portugal, with one of each coming in the Taca da Liga, which saw Sporting lift the cup last January.

Back in France this season, the midfielder has turned out 18 times for PSG, most recently against Lens on New Year’s Day and now, 12 years after working with Spain’s under-19s together, Sarabia and Lopetegui are reunited at Molineux.