Hobbs | 'Mario's a player we’ve admired for a while'

Sporting director Matt Hobbs revealed Mario Lemina is a player both the Wolves recruitment team and Julen Lopetegui have admired for some time, so was delighted to welcome him to the club earlier today.

The Gabon international became the club’s second singing of the January transfer window, following the arrival of Matheus Cunha, and adds Premier League experience to the group from previous spells with Southampton and Fulham.

Hobbs believes the 29-year-old will bring both physical and technical ability to Wolves and expects him to complement the other midfield options already at Lopetegui’s disposal ahead of the second part of the 2022/23 Premier League campaign.

On securing Lemina’s services

“He’s one we’ve been working on for about a month. I talked at the start of the window about getting signings done early, and he was one of those players, but when you’re taking arguably someone’s best player, certainly before the World Cup, and the manager doesn’t want to lose him, you have to understand it can take a bit of time – you can’t necessarily work to your timeline.

“The appetite for the player has never gone and we’re really happy to finally get the deal done. Mario has been great throughout the process. He was our number one target for that position, so it’s always pleasing to get it sorted.”

On bringing Premier League experience

“As far as adaption goes, it makes it very easy. He speaks the language perfectly, he knows the pace and physicality of the league, and we know he has the attributes to deal with that no problem at all. Adaptation is no concern with him, which isn’t necessarily always the case with foreign players.”

On how he’ll complement the other midfielders

“He’s something different. High physicality, great across the pitch and has technical ability too. He’ll give us a bit of bite, a bit of aggressiveness in the middle of the pitch. He’ll offer us something we haven’t had as much in one player.

“He can be a foil for the other players and can enable them to show their strengths more. If you look at the balance of the midfield unit, we’re much more evenly balanced. Now he is back playing and ready to go.”

On being a Lopetegui target

“He’s a player we’ve admired for a while, he isn’t someone who has come up since Julen came in, he’s a player were able to sign in the past but hasn’t progressed to this point until now. Our scouting team pushed him last summer and the transfer wasn't possible, but we're pleased Julen had the same belief in Mario that we had. 

“When the manager came in, he had enquired about the player when he was at Seville, so has had a long-term interest and the club have had a long-term interest, so in some ways it was fate that we were able to do it now."

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