There’s More To Wolves’ Deal With Spanish Side Jumilla Than Some Think


I’m sure a number of Wolverhampton Wanderers’ fans are well aware of our sister-club arrangement with small Spanish side Futbol Club Jumilla.

Announced last August, it had been in the pipeline for a while given the ties that exist between both clubs at a number of levels and we do have nine players out with them for experience this season.

The Birmingham Mail carried an exclusive with Chinese owner Steven Lee this week and the piece makes a very good read and details the ties that some fans might not be aware of – there isn’t an ownership link with Fosun, but our owners are close friends with Lee, and on a playing side, their manager/coach is Leonel Pontes who helped teach Cristiano Ronaldo, Rui Patricio and Joao Moutinho during his time with Sporting’s Academy.

The piece that alerted me to this interview was actually critical of our ties with the club, making the assumption that short-term potential loss for our current loanees served no purpose other than benefiting Jumilla when their development could be better suited by going out to League One or League Two opposition as opposed to the Spanish Segunda B level.

I couldn’t disagree more for a variety of reasons.

Loans out to League One and Two aren’t just about game time. Youngsters at Premier League and Championship clubs are arguably coddled with the facilities and the wages, so a spell away where they have to fend for themselves is often quoted as a benefit by clubs. A player can have a good career and get a good financial return in football by only training and never playing. A taste of having to succeed for themselves, their family and their employers is not a bad thing.

So, the level of Jumilla doesn’t wash when you consider other factors.

The obvious benefit for the club I would say speaks for itself. Help Jumilla compete, help them grow and not only will we have a second Academy in effect, they can potentially become the go-to club for talented youngsters knowing there is a pathway through. We also, via our importance in the relationship probably have more of a say on game time should we wish to, and helping to shape the club and ethos in a mutually beneficial way whereby anyone arriving with us in the future, has already been brought up in a way they would’ve been had they been with us already. Easier integration is the plus.

Going back to a players benefit.

If we want a youngster to mature and get a taste of life outside of the Wolves blanket, Jumilla brings added benefits. A self-proclaimed small club in a quiet area means they avoid the distractions the game can bring, and focus purely on building habits beneficial to their careers – habits that should follow through when we get back to the more British pub scene and nightclubs.

They also experience a different type of football, and again the level is unimportant, the League Two test may be considered more difficult but given the B-team nature of Academies in the Spanish game, players will cross paths with La Liga’s elite sides reasonably regularly and facing that elite crop at points will certainly be an experience.

Get that experience under their belts, then look to make a mark at League One or Two level having had 12 months of something completely different is not going to do anyone any harm.

I can only see it as being of benefit to the players themselves, as well as the club both in the now as well as in the future.

Exit mobile version