Before he was considered to coach Spain, new boss Julen Lopetegui had offers from other clubs in Europe. He has revealed that he was in talks with English club Wolverhampton to take on the team and attempt to bring it back to the Premier League, but the offer from Spain came and he didn't even hesitate. It's still soon to say if Lopetegui will do a good job, but showing that kind of loyalty and commitment towards any side is remarkable.
Talking to Sky Sports, Julen revealed that: "I was waiting to hear about an agreement that I had in place about what was an incredibly attractive and exciting project at Wolves. Certainly if the Spanish job hadn't come up, I know I would now be coach at Wolverhampton. We were looking forward to working with a great project, looking to build the future, but the truth is when your country calls you, obviously everything changes. I was very keen to come to England. There were so many positives. Wolves are a great, historic club, with fantastic fans, with an infrastructure to become [one] of the great clubs."
Lopetegui also talked about the Wolves' manager Kenny Jackett who was left untold about his future for a while due to the negotiations taking place with Lopetegui: "I know how difficult it can be to carry on as normal with all this going around and I want to put on record my maximum respect for him and all his staff throughout this whole situation. The timing was not down to me, and Mr. Jackett behaved throughout it all in a magnificent exemplary manner."
Julen also spoke about the passing style Spain has and what he plans to do with it: "We need to know what our strengths are and where we need to get better. We know that our rivals have learnt how to counter Spain's domination of the game and now is the time for us to find an answer to the rivals we are facing. Effectively, it is to have a response to our opponents without losing our essence."
Photo credit: Seleccion Española