Being a Premier League footballer was always Marshall Munetsi’s dream and after aiming at that target for so long, his gratitude has increased ahead of his first full season at Wolves.
In truth however, his humility has always kept him grateful. The 29-year-old made quite the impact in his first six months in Wolverhampton, bringing a positivity to the group, which helped guide the team comfortably to top flight survival.
In a short space of time, Munetsi’s personality and on-pitch performances positively impacted all those around him, and with pre-season set to start back at Compton Park for the Zimbabwean skipper and his teammates later today, he hopes the influence he had on the squad before the summer break - which ended with his stunning strike to close the season out at home to Brentford - will enable Wolves to hit the ground running straight from the off this time around.
On his first season in Old Gold
“It went quite well. The main objective was to get as far as possible away from the relegation zone and we managed to achieve that. The last few games were not good on our side, but overall, the guys really put a lot of effort in to make sure that we maintained our status in the league. At the end of the season, we also had that aspect of fatigue, because we really pushed a lot.
“I didn’t really imagine that would win six games in a row, but I obviously thought we would survive. That was the main thing that was in my head and everybody else surrounding the club.
“But we might have even overachieved considering how things had been going before, so I think everyone can be proud of the effort that the players and the management and everybody surrounding the club put in to making sure that we didn’t end up going to the Championship.”
On taking no time to settle
“Everybody has been really kind. The group is really open, people talk to each other, people try to help and assist each other, but I think that’s why it makes it even better when your team is a family.
“Even when you’re coming in as the new guy, you feel like you have been part of the team for quite some time, and it felt like most of the players I had already known them from before.”
On becoming a key player for Pereira
“There were certain aspects that the manager wanted me to do to help the team, considering that they had seen me from afar, and one of them was my qualities of being a box-to-box midfielder and being able to defend and to also attack. I would have loved to have scored more goals with the chances that I had, but unfortunately, sometimes in football things don’t always work out the way you want.
“But in general, I’ve been able to add more value to the team, especially without the ball, how our shape has become more solid, because we had been conceding a lot of goals [before he arrived] and also assisting when we attack. Overall, we managed to find a good way to integrate each and every player in the system that we were using.
“I think he wanted players who can be able to adjust and adapt because games don’t always go as planned and sometimes the manager will tell you to go on the right, go central, go in behind, so you always need to be able to adjust. It shows the quality, not only for me, but also for a lot of the players, like Joao [Gomes], Bellegarde, we always integrate those positions to try and find some ways to break down the opponents.”
A special goal by Marshall Munetsi! 😍 pic.twitter.com/BBh9yNNEHJ
— Wolves (@Wolves) May 26, 2025
On covering the most distance per game in the Premier League
“I’ve always said that as long as I’m breathing, I’ll always give everything for the club. This is the mentality that I have since I was a kid. When people bring you to do a job, you want to do it to the best of your abilities and I think having that work rate is one of my qualities.
“I always want to run as much as I can to make sure that we win the games, and it’s fun when you also have people appreciate whatever you’re doing. At the end of the day, it’s more important to get good results, but those results only come after sacrificing blood, sweat and tears on the pitch.
“Some games I’m not so tired, but I remember against Manchester City I was tired because I was sick also during that week. I remember just wanting to sleep. After a very difficult game, you just want to sleep, but in some games, because of how you’d have trained and prepared, you just feel in a normal way.”
On having a pre-season under Pereira
“It’ll be much nicer to start on a clean slate with everybody, and not coming into the group in January, when there’s even more pressure. It’s easier when you start the season with the team, with the philosophy, the game plan, the game model, to get to know each other even more.
“When you go for camp, you spend like 10 to 15 days together, so it gives you a bit of more time to know each and every person individually, so you can create those relationships that will be more important on the pitch.”
On improving as a group in 2025/26
“I’m looking forward to starting pre-season with the team and coming into the season with zero points for everyone as well because you want to start on a high. This is also the mentality that you want to integrate into the team and to also remind each other that we don’t want to be in a position that we were last year in December.
“We want to have a good pre-season, be prepared and make sure that we win maximum games, especially in the beginning, because it always matters when you get towards the end of the season, because then it becomes much more difficult to win games.”
