Andre is hoping Wolves’ fortunes will now start to change following the arrival of Vitor Pereira as head coach, having faced the Portuguese’s previous sides back in Brazil during the last few years.
The midfielder was part of the Fluminense side which lost to Pereira’s Corinthians in the 2022 Copa do Brasil semi-finals and also faced the manager when going up against his Flamengo team, so knows exactly what is to be expected from his new boss as they look to get off to a positive start away at Leicester City this weekend.
On his first four months at Molineux
“As soon as I arrived at the club, it was very welcoming. I met some players who I had met before, and they were very welcoming – lots of Portuguese-speaking players, so that was very welcoming for me.
“It was a sacrifice to leave Brazil and the first few months was a time of adaptation; it’s a bit difficult because of the language, the weather – I have a young son and my wife is pregnant now and having another baby – being low on the table; it’s a very uncomfortable situation where we have to focus more on the club, dedicate yourself more to the club and put the family a bit to one side, but now that a few months have gone by, I’ve adapted a bit more to here.
“Regarding the results, we are going through a very difficult moment. Now there has been a change of trainer – unfortunately we weren’t getting the results with Gary O’Neil. We had some good games, others not so good. We were doing our best, but unfortunately it didn’t work out.
“Now, with Vitor Pereira’s arrival, I think that things will start to be more fluid going forwards. We are at a point where we can all react, so that the players get better as a team, and start to win games.
“But I’m very happy to be here and I’m now going to give my life to Wolverhampton. My dreams here are to pull the team out of this situation, and in the following years to think big. I think that all the players have to think this way. Give their best each day, give their life to the club, and then good things will always happen.”
On facing Vitor Pereira’s teams in Brazil
“I haven’t worked with him, but all his teams are teams that work hard, teams that like to compete, who are very difficult to play against. We were once eliminated by him in the Copa do Brasil when he was with Corinthians, and then he was the trainer of Flamengo – which is the biggest club in Rio de Janeiro.
“It’s really hard to play against his teams because they are teams that are very well worked, and teams who fight on the pitch and bring all the energy there.
“I think he’s going to help a lot, especially for me, having a trainer who speaks Portuguese. Before, the whole coaching staff was English, so that was a bit difficult when the squad is made up of Portuguese, Brazilian, Spanish, Norwegian, Korean players.
“It’s also a very young group, but very united, and we know that with Vitor Pereira’s experience he’s going to get the best out of each player. As I said, he likes to compete, and he likes his teams to bring a lot of energy to the pitch. As a very young team, we are ready to pay the price on the pitch to avoid this situation and escape relegation.”
On facing Leicester this weekend
“It’s going to be a very difficult game this weekend, another direct confrontation, and we just have to think about winning this game. It’s a game against another team at the bottom end of the table and we can’t continue lose more points.
“We ask that all of the fans of Wolves are with us at this time – to support us, to give a lot of positive energy so that we can get out of this situation as quickly as possible, and we, as players, will use this as fuel on the pitch.
“We have to take Vitor Pereira’s game on as quickly as possible so that the victories can begin and we can get out of this situation.”
On how he’ll be spending Christmas Day
“Christmas will be difficult this year, in particular, as I am going to spend it far away from my son and far away from my wife. Because she’s due to give birth to our baby at the start of January, we decided that she would give birth in Brazil, and I’m going to spend Christmas with my brother, and my brother-in-law here.
“We also have a game on 26th December, so we need to train on the 24th and 25th and then play on the 26th, and we are going to wait for the schedule to see whether there may be a break for New Year and for me to be able to pay a visit to Brazil.”
