Fan column: It is time for Fer Lopez to really start his Wolves career

Considering the prospects for a new campaign, pre-season matches offer little by way of context for what lies ahead.

The results hold no relevance and the games often barely competitive, are soon forgotten.

Wolves have fielded a number of players who many supporters expected to be plying their trade elsewhere. Fer Lopez is one; had he remained at Celta Vigo few would have been surprised and the indications are that the player himself favoured such an outcome.

Had the Spanish club offered the finance, the move would likely have been ratified. It wasn’t a paltry sum Wolves paid for his services and it was a major let down when within six months of him arriving, he was departing back on loan to Spain having failed to make any impression on Premier League football.

The vigour and physicality of the English game he found challenging to say the least; unproductive and unable to excel, his confidence plummeted.

Starting the game against Leeds in September, he endured a miserably depressing 45 minutes. It was clear that he had to be replaced at half-time mainly for his own benefit. Vitor Pereira concurred and Lopez was mercifully hooked.

The seeds of his premature departure had well and truly been sown. He appeared to have made a disenchanted exit, but he was a young, inexperienced player, new to the country and joining a club hopelessly ill- equipped for the task they were facing.

Few of his new contemporaries remotely distinguished themselves either, struggling to justify their own existence let alone support a callow newcomer and in retrospect, Lopez little more than a promising rookie, was thrust into a predicament way beyond his control.

Surprisingly, he’s back at Molineux, looking physically stronger and maybe intent on proving a point with the opportunity to install himself as an integral component of Peixoto’s squad.

After last season’s entrenched and stodgy caution, the new head coach will be demanding a more aggressive and positive approach.

Lopez, clearly talented could play a crucial role. His subtle technique and awareness of all that is happening around him on the pitch offers the chance to finally express himself at Molineux.

Whether he can sustain an acceptable standard during an English winter and a brutal Championship schedule offers its own unique challenge.

But unlike last season, the onus to succeed rests with Lopez himself. He’s looked confident and assured during pre-season but that means nothing. Time to belatedly begin his Wolves’ career.