Ruben Vinagre was loaned out to Olympiacos after failing to nail down a starting place at Wolverhampton Wanderers, but his stint at the Karaiskakis Stadium isn’t going to plan. The 21-year-old is struggling for playing time under Pedro Martins and may not turn the move permanent next summer.
What went wrong at Wolves?
Vinagre has made 70 appearances in all competitions for Wolves since joining on loan from AS Monaco in 2017 and turning the move permanent in 2018, scoring three goals with two assists.
Despite his many outings under Nuno Espirito Santo, the Portuguese U21 international only started 14/79 (17.7%) Premier League games, amassing 1519/7110 (21.3%) minutes of top-flight football.
Stiff competition from Jonny Otto Castro kept Vinagre on the periphery and his inconsistent performances led us to finally part company. That being said, we might be getting him back next year if things don’t get well in Greece.
What’s going wrong at Olympiacos?
It’s early days, but Vinagre has had to be patient for opportunities. He was left out of the matchday in Olympiacos’ 4-0 win over Atromitos Athen (October 17), came off the bench with one minute remaining in their Champions League win over Olympique Marseille (October 21), came off the bench with 20 minutes remaining in their Champions League defeat to FC Porto (October 27), played a full 90 minutes in their 2-0 win over Apollon Smyrnis (October 31) and didn’t start in their meeting with OFI Crete (November 8).
Vinagre has so far started 2/5 games across the board this season and finds himself behind Jose Cholevas in the pecking order. Rafinha is able to play as a makeshift left-back too, so playing time won’t come easy.
Summary
There’s plenty of the season to go, but Vinagre is auditioning to earn a permanent move to Olympiacos, so he can’t afford to waste away on the bench or be out the matchday squad.
Nuno has Marcal, Rayan Aït-Nouri and Jonny Otto Castro who can operate at left-back back at Wolves, so Vinagre may not have a future at Molineux if he doesn’t join the Erythrolefki permanently.
