New £19.5m Wolves man explains why he jumped at chance to join club
New man Fer Lopez admits he didn’t need much thinking time before accepting the chance to join Wolves in a £19.5million transfer.
The 21-year-old forward became the club’s first signing of the summer when he completed his switch from Celta Vigo.
Lopez has agreed a five-year contract at Molineux and will bolster an attack depleted by the exits of Pablo Sarabia and Matheus Cunha.
A product of Celta’s academy, Lopez arrived on Wolves’ radar after an impressive breakthrough season in Spain and once an agreement between the clubs was in place, the player himself took little persuading to make the switch after talking with new boss Vitor Pereira.
“It's an amazing opportunity for my career to play in the Premier League, and I'm very happy,” he said.
“The club told me, and Vitor told me that they thought that I was a good fit in the squad.
“When it’s a club like this, you have little to think about. It's true, it was very hard to leave my boyhood club, but I was very pleased to come here and play in, with LaLiga I think, the best league in the world.
“Last season I played at the Bernabeu twice, I played Barcelona away, Atletico Madrid away – they were the best atmospheres in Spain. Now, I want to do the same, but in England.”
Lopez made his senior debut last October and went on to score four goals in 20 matches in all competitions.
He is the second player to move from Celta to Wolves in as many summers with the first of those, Jorgen Strand Larsen, also playing his part in the deal.
The striker, who spent time with Lopez on holiday in Greece earlier this month, was effusive in his praise of Wolves and Pereira when quizzed by the younger man.
“He's a top guy, and he helped me a lot in my decision, because I know that with him here, I'm going to have someone I can trust,” said Lopez.
“I'm moving away from my family, and it's a difficult step, not just in sport, more in my life outside football, and I know he's going to be there for me.
“He told me that to play in the Premier League and with a team like Wolves, it's amazing, that the fans were incredible, and that he had a great year last year, he told me he had one of the best seasons in his life.
“So he told me that I should come, that with the gaffer and all the teammates, the style of play was going to be very good. We're going to play good football, attractive football, and I think I can fit in there.”
