West Ham set to raid Wolves for Nuno Espirito Santo favourite | OneFootball

A huge off-field change between the promotion favourites is set to occur

After their respective relegations from the Premier League to the Championship, plenty of spotlight has already been cast on developments both on and off the pitch at West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers respectively.

The two sides had not resided in the second tier of English football for, in Wolves' case, eight years, while you have to go back six further to remember the last time the Hammers were a Championship side.

However, neither club were able to resurrect damaging starts to the 2025/26 Premier League season, although the West Midlands outfit would have to wait until January to taste just one of three league victories all season, which ironically came against their former boss, Nuno Espírito Santo, at Molineux.

The Old Gold and Black spent the vast majority of last season rooted to the foot of the Premier League table and had sacked Vitor Pereira - who has since left his role at Nottingham Forest - to replace Nuno's compatriot with Rob Edwards, who left Middlesbrough in controversial circumstances to return to WV1.

But, last month, the 43-year-old was also shown the exit door at Molineux before being replaced by Cesar Peixoto, who, last season, guided Gil Vicente to a sixth-placed finish in Liga Portugal.

A clear link behind Peixoto's appointment is the involvement of agent, Jorge Mendes, who was pivotal to the success Wolves enjoyed under Nuno when it came to attracting players.

However, another man who was pivotal to the club's 2017/18 title success is now set to reunite with the current West Ham boss.

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Indeed, there was some intense speculation as to whether Nuno would remain at the London Stadium after relegation, before the 52-year-old made his stance clear over staying with the Irons for a first full term.

The Hammers are expected to oversee a major squad reshuffle, with Mateus Fernandes recently seeing his record £85m sale to Tottenham Hotspur confirmed, while Crysencio Summerville remains a key target for Manchester United.

That said, due to the strength of the squad which could remain at his disposal, and be added to with further quality in the transfer window, many are already tipping West Ham to lift the Championship title in 10 months' time.

Nuno, of course, has experience of doing so with Wolves to call upon, and he is reportedly set to reunite with his assistant from that season, Rui Pedro Silva, who returned to Molineux for a second stint as assistant coach in November when Edwards was appointed.

It has been described as a 'huge boost' by John Percy of the Telegraph, who has revealed such developments.

Silva previously worked with his compatriot at Rio Ave, Valencia and Porto before moving to the Midlands back in 2017, where Wolves went on to win the Championship, reach an FA Cup semi-final, finish seventh twice in the Premier League twice and compete in the UEFA Europa League knockout stages, before exiting in 2021.

Nuno then joined Tottenham while the 47-year-old embarked on his only individual managerial stint at Famalicao, before the duo linked up again in 2023 at Nottingham Forest.

However, after his move to East London last Autumn, Silva was unable to follow his colleague's path immediately after initially staying at the City Ground to work with Ange Postecoglou - whose reign lasted 39 days.

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It could come as a blow for Wolves to lose a coach of Silva's nous given Peixoto's inexperience at Championship level, although, at the same time, such developments may not come as the greatest of surprises.

While Nuno is set to value Silva's knowledge significantly, the newly-appointed Wolves boss is reportedly set to, reunite with four of his coaching team from the Estadio Cidade de Barcelos - Leandro Morais, Diogo Coutinho, Sergio Teixeira and Rodrigo Fernandes.

It remains to be seen if such a change impacts the performances of the two clubs in the promotion race given the pre-season expectations which have already been placed on them, even if Wolves have already made their own statements by tying down Andre to a new four-year deal while also signing Kieran Trippier and former striker, Raul Jimenez on free transfers.