Wolverhampton Wanderers’ latest recruit Daniel Podence had an extended three page interview with Portuguese newspaper O Jogo which was published on Sunday.
Podence was brought in from Greek side Olympiacos for a deal worth €19.6 million and was handed the number ten by Nuno Espírito Santo which certainly did raise some eyebrows but also shows how much they believe in his capabilities.
O Jogo mentioned on having an interview with the Portuguese man a year back where he was committed to a foreseeable future with Olympiacos. But alot has changed since…
“It’s true. At the time I didn’t know of any other club’s interest and the move to Wolverhampton happened in an unexpected way.”
Podence speaking about the January transfer window where he ended up at Monileux: “Coming to the Premier League made me a little anxious, but at the same time I felt very good at Olympiacos. I heard about Wolverhampton’s interest around the 5th of January, at the same time that they also told me about Sevilla, but I ended up moving to England only on the 29th or 30th”.
Before accepting a move to Nuno’s side, Podence says he spoke with Wolves and Portuguese goalie Rui Patrício over coming to England: “I spoke to Rui Patrício, as we had already played together at Sporting, we are friends and he spoke to me very well about the club. It also made me come to England.”
Daniel claims that number of Portuguese players are helping him to adapt to the club and Premier League.
“This is almost like adapting to a Portuguese team and at Olympiacos it was the same. Basically, I never had any adaptation problems, because I never went to a team that didn’t have a Portuguese.”
Podence was further quizzed about whether Wolves can win the Europa League, and the 24-year-old claimed to have no doubt about it: “Of course we can. Wolverhampton are a club with some history and I have won titles in all the clubs I’ve been, including Moreirense with the League Cup. At Wolves we are fighting for fifth, sixth place, but nobody tells me that next season we cannot fight for second and for the access to the Champions League or for the title in the Europa League this season.”
