Rob Edwards must unlock Wolves’ forgotten £19m star | OneFootball

Rob Edwards must utilise the quality of £19 million attacking midfielder Fer Lopez for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Championship.

Wolverhampton Wanderers are heading back down to the Championship and, while their business is expected to be plentiful, one man that could finally flourish and be key to their promotion challenge is already in the building.

Following the appointment of Rob Edwards, who opted to leave promotion-chasing Middlesbrough in November, Wolves continued to endure a fairly miserable Premier League campaign.

There were the occasional signs of major improvement, such as their run of form in late-February and early-March which saw them fight back from 2-0 down to earn a point against Arsenal before victories against Aston Villa and Liverpool at Molineux.

All in all, though, Edwards will have to start the season immediately under pressure with the demands and expectations being that of mounting a title challenge in the second-tier next season.

Work on their squad is already underway and business is expected to continue, following the surprise news that Andre has signed a new contract and Kieran Trippier is set to sign for the club following his departure from Newcastle United.

However, it is a piece of business done last summer that should be at the forefront of Edwards’ mind, and getting Fer Lopez to be at the forefront of their rebuild should be key.

Fer Lopez should be key for Wolves in the Championship

Last summer saw Wolves shed some of their stars with Rayan Ait-Nouri sold to Manchester City and Matheus Cunha moved on to Manchester United but they did still spend a bit of money.

One of the more surprising and now, especially in relative terms to the second-tier, big money moves saw the £19 million signing of versatile attacker Fer Lopez.

Once of Suffolk-based lower league outfit Bacton United back in 2018, Madrid-born Fer Lopez eventually broke into professional football at Celta Vigo.

In the 2024/25 campaign, as Celta finished seventh and qualified for the UEFA Europa League under the impressive and attacking management of Claudio Giraldez, Fer Lopez began to cut his teeth in La Liga.

The young but technically gifted attacking midfielder caught the eye in a Celta side that were one of the more attractive teams to watch in Spain’s top-flight, thus earning a Premier League move last summer.

Frustrating for Celta, as Lopez followed on from the likes of Gabri Veiga of a starlet that was forced to be sold earlier than they would have wanted to, the signing of Lopez appeared to be a bit of a coup for Wolves.

However, in a topsy-turvy and unsettled environment, the recently turned 22-year-old struggled have any sort of an impact for an underperforming Wolves side.

He managed just nine Premier League appearances in the first-half of the campaign, managing just two starts with four of those appearances, and one of those starts, coming after the appointment of Edwards.

Seemingly well-suited to the 3-4-2-1 system of Edwards, able to play in that two behind the striker, Lopez was eventually shipped out on loan in January, returning to Celta, where he got back on the right path and again played a key role in helping the Galicians qualify for Europe once again this season.

By accident, Wolves now have an asset that was deemed to be worth close to £20 million just 12 months ago returning to their squad after a few more much-needed months of development, and Wolves really should capitalise on that this summer.

Fer Lopez needs to repay Wolves one way or another

It is something of a cliché that the Championship and the EFL is far more physically demanding than the Premier League. There are, of course, more matches to be played and, perhaps, some of the defending remains a little rougher and more rugged without the implementation of VAR – but the need to be a physical specimen is naturally lesser.

The Premier League performs well on the continent in UEFA competition because, by and large, teams are able to bully opponents because of the sheer intensity that is required to play at that level.

It could be argued that the Championship, while still remaining intense, is a slower and more tactical league akin to that of La Liga, albeit at a lower technical level.

Those ingredients should, in theory, mean that Fer Lopez is actually extremely well suited to being a fundamental player for Wolves as they seek to immediately return to the top-flight.

Having began his second stint at Celta out-wide, Claudio Giraldez began to trust Lopez playing in the middle of the park where he could help transition from defence to attack in, more commonly, a 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-3 shape.

That is the preferred system of Edwards, or at least has been throughout his managerial career with Forest Green Rovers, Watford, Luton Town and Middlesbrough.

Should the two-time EFL promotion-winner again opt to use that system then Lopez, rather than playing in a more advanced role behind the striker, may well be ideally profiled as a central midfielder, able to dictate games that will be played at a slower pace than the Premier League and capable of driving the ball forward for Wanderers.

From being representative of a summer of poor business by Wolves that undermined their entire final season in the Premier League, Lopez could well be the forgotten man that knits everything together for Wolves in the Championship.

The Spain U21 international is clearly a player of immense quality and having a player that was playing for a European qualifier in Spain now in England’s second-tier is something that should be utilised by Edwards.