Vitor Pereira is excited to get the season underway against Manchester City at Molineux on Saturday night following a summer of rebuilding his Wolves squad.
The head coach has seen several changes made to his playing group from the last time they stepped out in the top flight back in May, but Pereira has plenty of belief in his current squad and explained how creating a new team and putting his own identity onto it is one of his favourite things to do as a manager.
On rebuilding during the summer
“I’m positive and I’m excited because this is the best league in the world, and, for me, it’s a pleasure to be here. In football, each season is a new season. You always need to reinvent yourself because we’ll face different challenges. We need to rebuild our identity, to reinforce our identity, and this will take some time.
“We have some new players and I’m expecting another one or two or three, and the club is working on that, so we’ll see, as I cannot say now that we are at our best level, we still need to have time for this.
“But this is the magic that I need in my life to work; to create every time, to express my creativity because I like to create new things. For me, each season is a chance for me to create, to rebuild and to express myself so I can help my team. This is the butterflies and the passion that I feel.
“We are building what our idea of football is. I’m happy with my players and we are working hard to improve the level, but every day we need to improve ourselves. We need to be stronger when defending and attacking and I believe in our work, and I believe in the squad.”
On his players stepping up
“Matheus [Cunha], Rayan [Ait-Nouri], Nelson [Semedo] and Pablo [Sarabia] were very important players for us, and I really believe that they all deserve thanks for what they did for us.
“But now, it’s time for different players, for other players, for other connections, to be built. Football, for me, is about connecting people.
“It takes some time to make these connections inside of the team and between the team and the supporters, and the club and the city, but this is our work.”
On adding Arias to his squad
“We must be aware that Arias came from a different a different league and needs time to adapt. He needs time to understand because the Premier League is very technical, but it’s very physical also.
“The pace has a high intensity, and it will take a bit of time to adapt. But first of all for Arias is to connect to his teammates, connect to the manager, to my staff, and to understand what we are suggesting as a team how to play, how to help the team with his qualities.
“But he has a lot of qualities and I am sure that he will help us a lot.”
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 9, 2025
On Lopez’s mentality
“He's a very good talent. He has very good skills and is another player who needs some time, but for sure, he will be a good surprise for us.
“Football is about connections and friendships, and Larsen is not only friends with Fer, but with Wolfe too. He’s very connected with both of them.
“But he is a positive guy, with good mentality, a strong mentality, and it’s important to create this, because football is not only about the tactical things, the technical things, it’s about creating the right mentality to compete, and this is what we are trying to do.”
On expectations for Strand Larsen
“I believe he will do better than last season because now he knows the league, because now he knows his teammates better and I think his maturity is important. He has maturity with the experiences he’s had, and what he experienced last season – a different league, a bit different than his last league, the Spanish league, and now he has the conditions to score more goals.
“We are trying to increase the connection between him and the others to assist him and to know his movements, and this is the time to rebuild these connections.”
Fer Lopez on facing his former side and getting his first taste of football at Molineux 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/gyHyjgCCBe
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 9, 2025
On facing City on opening day
“Next game is Manchester City and I know it’s a big challenge, but in this league every game is a very difficult game, a top level game, and we need to look for ourselves. We need to be the best version of ourselves. It is all about being ourselves and expressing ourselves in our best level because this is what the competition is, or the challenge is.
“[Guardiola] is maybe the best manager in the world and is someone that has the capacity to reinvent himself, and he needs to now reinvent his team.
“He’s a top manager and I admire him because he gives a lot to football, he gives new things new – it’s like discovering different worlds and he’s trying every time to discover something new. But I also feel football like this.”
