Whenever Wolves change their manager or have a backroom reshuffle, the message is frequently the same: we will not be relying so heavily on Jorge Mendes.
Yet 10 years after Chinese conglomerate Fosun took control of the club, it feels like Wolves are back where they started: in the Championship, with a British manager ditched for one unproven in English football, and with Mendes playing a pivotal role behind the scenes.
Rob Edwards is out and the new coach will be Cesar Peixoto, a 46-year-old Portuguese who steered Gil Vicente to a creditable sixth in the top flight in his homeland last term.
Daily Mail Sport can reveal that Fosun supremo Guo Guangchang has taken personal charge of this process. Since the inexperienced Nathan Shi replaced Jeff Shi as chairman last December, Guo has been far more hands-on, as Nathan lacks experience in the world of football. Unconvinced by results under Edwards last season, when Wolves lost 15 of his 27 Premier League games in charge, Guo decided to pull the plug.
A penny for Edwards’ thoughts. He had pushed hard for the return of Raul Jimenez, the signing of Kieran Trippier and the new contract for Brazilian midfielder Andre. On Wednesday afternoon, he was quoted extensively on club channels about Jimenez’s signing. Less than 24 hours later, Edwards was out of a job – even though his remarks about Jimenez were still on the Wolves website by late morning on Thursday.
Daily Mail Sport understands Edwards became aware late on Wednesday of the rumours he was to be replaced and his representatives made contact with Wolves to check his position. It was not until Thursday morning that Edwards took the call that informed him he had been sacked after just seven months.
Rob Edwards has been unceremoniously dismissed by Wolves despite being involved in their summer recruitment
Fosun supremo Guo Guangchang (centre) with former Wolves chairman Jeff Shi (left) and super agent Jorge MendesÂ
The timing is bizarre. There are suggestions Guo made up his mind on Edwards at the end of last season and Wolves were simply waiting for the right candidate to become available.
Peixoto was also linked with the Benfica job, and some at Wolves believe he missed out only because Marco Silva was higher-profile. However, sources in Portugal wonder whether Peixoto was in fact keener on Benfica than they were on him.
Either way, in times of need, Wolves executives will usually scroll through their contacts list and call Uncle Jorge. Exactly how they arrived at Peixoto is unclear, though this seems a reasonable assumption: Guo lost patience with the current regime and got Mendes on the blower.
As one of the best-connected agents in the game, working with Jose Mourinho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Unai Emery among others, Mendes will usually have someone ready, and this time it was Peixoto.
Mendes’ right-hand man Valdir Cardoso spends much of his time in the UK and during Wolves’ recent golden era from 2017-20, was close to several of the players, even staying at their homes on occasion. Cardoso will be a significant figure in whatever comes next.
But which version of the Mendes client list will we have this time? The one featuring Nuno Espirito Santo and players like Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho and Raul Jimenez, taking Wolves from the Championship to a Europa League quarter-final in barely two years?
Or the one that delivered unsuitable players like Fabio Silva and Fer Lopez, which played a significant part in Wolves’ decline since 2020? Mendes was also involved in last summer’s appalling summer transfer window, when Wolves did not sign a single player with Premier League experience and Vitor Pereira was sacked last autumn, with Edwards replacing him.
The new Wolves coach will be Cesar Peixoto, a 46-year-old Portuguese who steered Gil Vicente to a creditable sixth in the top flight in his homeland last term
The returning Raul Jimenez with Wolves manager of football operations Matt WildÂ
It has to work. Everything is geared towards an immediate return to the Premier League – that is why Wolves have retained Andre and brought in high-earners like Trippier and Jimenez. Make the most of the parachute payments to make an instant comeback.
Peixoto’s first job will be to win around a group of players who have been shocked by these developments. Many are said to be disgruntled by how it has been handled.
These may not be the last of the changes, either, although Wolves have played down the idea that technical director Matt Jackson may follow Edwards through the door.
In mid-May, Daily Mail Sport received information that Edwards’ assistant Rui Silva was being lined up to replace Edwards. Though this did not happen, it hinted at moves in the background even before the end of the season. It remains to be seen whether Silva, who worked with Nuno at Wolves and went back under Edwards, will work alongside Peixoto or pursue his own path.
Sometimes Wolves show a maddening capacity to shoot themselves in the foot. For years, supporters have been fed up with decline on the pitch and lack of transparency off it. Wolves had moved to try to improve communication by holding a fans’ forum in May with Nathan Shi, Edwards and Jackson.
Then the arrivals of Trippier and Jimenez, one of Wolves’ most loved players since Steve Bull, made the fans feel better about their club than they had done since Pereira steered them to safety in spring 2025.
Fans were becoming optimistic about a team built around the two new signings, Raul Jimenez and Kieran Trippier, Andre and exciting youngster Mateus Mane (above)
Everything is geared towards an immediate return to the Premier League – that is why Wolves have retained AndreÂ
They were even starting to warm to Edwards, who was booed after at least one home game last term, and were becoming optimistic about a team built around the two new signings, Andre and exciting youngster Mateus Mane.
Even if we take the Wolves narrative at face value – that the decision was made on Edwards some time ago and they were simply waiting for the right candidate to become available – the head coach deserved better.
Why allow him to speak with such enthusiasm about signings and the season ahead, if he could have been dismissed at any moment? It leaves a bad taste and lacks class. Whatever Edwards’ abilities as a coach, he is clearly a decent man and should have been treated as such.
Yet Fosun did not become one of the world’s biggest companies simply by being nice. This step has echoes of the ruthless decision to axe Paul Lambert and bring in Nuno in 2017. That one had spectacular results. This call had better do the same.
