Wolves takeover rumours: Who is Julen Lopetegui?

Safe pair of hands? Julen Lopetegui started out as a goalkeeper and, if reports in Spain turn out to be true, he could be the man to handle a new era at Wolves.

Reports claim the Spaniard could be appointed as boss at Molineux as early as next week, amid suggestions Chinese billionaire Robin Li is interested in buying the club.

So what do we know about 49-year-old Lopetegui? Well he's most recently been linked as a potential successor to outgoing Spain boss Vicente del Bosque., writes Craig Birch.

Real Madrid gave him a big break in 1985, who placed him into their B team and then promoted him to the first-team 1988. He made just one first-team appearance.

It came in a 3-3 draw away to fierce rivals Atletico Madrid, before Lopetegui moved on to minnows Logrines, where he would play more than 100 times in a three-year spell.

It earned him his first and only Spain cap in 1994 and he went to the United States for the World Cup that year, though, as an understudy to Zubizarreta, along with Santiago Canizarez.

He was at Barcelona from 1994 to 1997, serving as second and then third-choice goalkeeper. He then joined Rayo Vallecano, where he finished his playing days in 2002.

His coaching career started soon after, first as an assistant with Spain's Under-17 team. He first had sole charge at Rayo, but was sacked after 10 games of 2003-04.

He then spent five years out of the game, working as a sports commentator for Spanish television. He returned to boss Real Madrid B for one season in 2008-09.

He resumed his work with the Spanish national youth sides in 2010 and helped his country to the European Under-17 and Under-21 Championship. He left on 30 April 2014, when his contract expired.

A big opportunity came overseas with Porto, replacing Luis Castro. The club handed him their biggest budget ever and he subsequently signed seven Spanish players in summer 2014.

He led them to the quarter-finals of the Champions League in his first season, where a 3-1 win over Bayern Munich came in vain as the German side hammered them 6-1 to go through to the last four.

Not picking up any domestic silverware in that campaign would prove to his cost the following season when, out of the Champions League and third in the table, he was axed on January 8 of this year.

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