Touchdown in Spain, Jeff Shi's American dream crushed, and the back four transition |
| Alex Dicken pens the first entry of his exclusive tour diary as Wolves and the supporters touch down in Benidorm.
Wolves officially begin their pre-season matches today and it couldn't be further from what was planned.
The collapse of the Ohio Cup and, subsequently, a tour of the United States in May left Wolves in an almighty pickle. A marketing mission in the US had been in the works for more than three years, with the first postponement caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
A trip stateside would have been all about engaging new supporters - something chairman Jeff Shi has been prioritising as he looks to find new revenue streams. The alternative - a 10-day training camp and four-game series in Benidorm - is very much a victory for the the so-called 'legacy' fans.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that hundreds of Wolves supporters are expected to descend on Benidorm this week. I was joined by several of them on a 6:25am flight from Birmingham Airport this morning. I suspect the flight back will see more than a few people nursing sore heads.
Back to the football, which is why we're all here, right? Wolves take on Deportivo Alaves this evening. The Spanish Segunda Division side should be the perfect warm up for a tastier looking friendly on Saturday evening against Turkish powerhouse Besiktas.
There are behind-closed-doors matches against Levante and Villarreal B on Thursday and Sunday morning, respectively, where Bruno Lage is expected to field fringe players who don't feature prominently in the two showpiece friendlies.
Lage and his players have been training for three weeks now, so their fitness levels should be returning. The finished article should arrive next weekend, when Wolves travel to Portugal to face Sporting and Farense in the space of 24 hours, but we can expect to see training ground plans actioned against Alaves.
The possible introduction of a four-man defence is exciting supporters, especially after the £20.5million arrival of Nathan Collins. Having spent a chunk of last season working with three fit centre-backs, Lage suddenly has six available to him.
He doesn't have that luxury up front. Fabio Silva's loan exit and Patrick Cutrone's latest snub leaves Lage with one senior centre-forward in Raul Jimenez. The Mexican has been firing on all cylinders in training and wants to prove his six-goal tally from last season was just a minor blip in an otherwise magnificent Wolves career.
Nevertheless, a quality alternative is required to ease the goal burden on Jimenez. That is Shi and Scott Sellars' main transfer objective now.
Keeping Morgan Gibbs-White at Molineux is another priority and tonight could give us our first public glimpse of him, Daniel Podence and Pedro Neto working in support of Jimenez. The trio were fielded together in the 3-0 defeat of Burnley 10 days ago and Lage has been looking to build an understanding between them in training.
Speaking of training... although the bulk of it has been done now, Lage will still be drilling his players until the end of the week. I hope to bring you access and insight to Lage's gruelling training methods in the coming days.
In addition to that, there will be shed loads of coverage on the BirminghamLive website and one of these diaries every day until Wolves' tour concludes on Sunday. So make sure you check back in at 12pm tomorrow for the next diary from Benidorm.
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