Ten years of Fosun: Wolves' fluctuating Jorge Mendes relationship

The company and the super-agent are bound by both a personal relationship and business interests and that is why his Gestifute agency has been - and remains - so closely tied to Wolves.

That association has fluctuated over the years but Mendes continues to have a big say on Wolves’ present and future.

Fosun reportedly has a 20 per cent stake in Mendes’ holding company, while chief Guo Guangchang and former Wolves chairman Jeff Shi claim to be personal friends with Mendes.

It should have come as no surprise, then, to see the immediate impact he had when Fosun bought Wolves on July 21, 2016.

They spent more than £32million in their first season, including 13 signings in the summer transfer window alone, with Helder Costa and Ivan Cavaleiro the two big successes at the time.

There were plenty of flops too, such as Silvio and Joao Teixeira, as Wolves had a poor campaign overall with the sacking of Walter Zenga and the appointment of Paul Lambert seeing them finish 15th in the Championship.

But Mendes delivered the goods the following summer as he helped Wolves appoint Nuno Espirito Santo as head coach and was the reason the club could sign stars such as Ruben Neves, Diogo Jota and Willy Boly - among others.

In reality, without Mendes, Wolves would never have signed those players.

When Neves was brought in for £15million from Porto, it is understood at that time that some ‘big six’ clubs considered matching Wolves’ offer when they heard of the deal that was being done.

That proves how good a deal Wolves were getting for a player that would go on to earn hero status at the club.

The agent had access to a plethora of talent and, internally at Wolves, they saw it as a positive that they had to lean into.

Mendes also had a blind spot in the talent Wolves required with experience in English football, that would inevitably play a big role in promotion.

Ryan Bennett and John Ruddy were important players in Nuno’s charge to the Championship title but were two examples of players that Mendes would not have facilitated moves for - but were instead pushed by sporting director Kevin Thelwell.

The key was that Wolves got the balance right and although there were plenty of players that were not quite good enough, the club also got a lot of value out of Mendes and under Fosun Wolves were taken to another level entirely.

The summer after promotion was another Mendes masterclass and was a transfer window that few supporters could have dreamed of, as stars such as Raul Jimenez, Joao Moutinho, Jonny Castro Otto, Adama Traore, Rui Patricio and Leander Dendoncker came through the door as Wolves went on to achieve back-to-back seventh-placed Premier League finishes, the semi-final of the FA Cup and the quarter-final of the Europa League.

Although there are legitimate questions to ask regarding the use of Mendes and the ties to Fosun, the impact the agent had on helping Wolves get promoted and go to dizzy heights was substantial.

But, in the years that followed, Wolves began to get less value from the relationship.

Much of that was down to the poor decisions taken by former chairman J.Shi, but Mendes was also suggesting deals that frankly made no sense.

Fabio Silva’s £35million move is the obvious example, while Wolves also sold Morgan Gibbs-White just to bring in Goncalo Guedes for £27.5million - two truly dreadful deals.

As the years progressed, Wolves’ relationship with Mendes slightly weakened and the club began to do less business with him (but still some deals) and also bring in players off their own back.

With J.Shi making more of his own decisions and not being spoon fed by Mendes, the club began to circle the relegation drain before eventually dropping out of the Premier League last season.

That is not to say that a stronger Mendes relationship would have saved Wolves, but instead that the club were no longer getting the balance right.

Fosun’s money had dried up in comparison to those early pre-Covid years, while J.Shi began to sell the club’s best players and reinvest the money poorly.

Throughout this whole time, however, Mendes continued to work for Wolves as an intermediary on deals for players that he did not represent.

It was something the club were doing from the very beginning and Mendes facilitated signings for players not in the Gestifute stable such as Sasa Kalajdzic, Matheus Cunha, Emmanuel Agbadou and Marshall Munetsi - just to name a few.

He was instrumental in the £26million signing of Ladislav Krejic (£6million loan fee plus the £20million permanent deal), despite the player being available for around half of that final fee earlier last summer.

He also helped Wolves to get good money when they sold Agbadou, Jhon Arias and Jorgen Strand Larsen in January.

Gestifute are getting a slice of the pie for their troubles, understood to be around 10 per cent of each deal, but Wolves feel they would struggle to get better fees for those sales without his help.

When you consider these facts, it is understandable why some Wolves fans and the wider football community question Mendes’ role in the beautiful game.

But on the other hand, Wolves supporters enjoyed so much success in the early years of Fosun’s ownership that was, in part, down to Mendes’ help.

Gestifute have a box at Molineux for a reason - and many other clubs have similar ties to other agencies, but it is important that fans know the reality.

The future of Mendes’ involvement with Wolves will become clearer once the current transfer window is over, but the early signs point to a closer relationship again.

New chairman Nathan Shi sacked Rob Edwards to appoint Mendes client Cesar Peixoto, while Jimenez’s return came via Gestifute.

Wolves still have a lot of work to do in the transfer window and it will be fascinating to see how it plays out with or without further Mendes involvement.

Again, it comes down to the word balance. Just like the last time they were in the Championship, they need the flair and big names but they also require second tier nous.

How technical director Matt Jackson fits into that will only become clearer in time, but consistently under Fosun they have failed to be transparent with budgets.

Even during Nuno’s time, J.Shi would say no to signings being pitched by the requirement team - often giving bizarre reasons for not signing them - because Mendes was working on another deal in the background.

Fosun have continually held off on signings without a clear budget before suddenly coming up with the money late in the day which resulted in a late flurry of additions.

Any sporting director or technical director wants transparency and a clear plan so that they can work several windows ahead, but Wolves rarely operate in that way and it means they end up spending more when good planning could avoid it.

Fosun could have spent their money better and with only three signings through the door with three-and-a-half weeks until the season starts, it appears we may have a similar situation again.

But the extent to which Mendes is involved and helps make it a success remains to be seen.