Andy Townsend has heaped praise on Wolves manager Nuno Espírito Santo and forward Raul Jimenez after a season that’s seen Wolves take the Premier League by storm.
After winning promotion last season, Wolves have finished seventh in the Premier League and could end up having a big say on where the trophy ends up, as they play Liverpool on Sunday in the final game of the season.
Talking on the Debate show (Sky Sports, Thursday, 10pm), Andy Townsend was asked who he thought the manager of the season should be.
“I think Nuno Espírito Santo has been brilliant,” Townsend said. “They’ve been easily the best promoted team I’ve seen for a good few years. They play their own brand of football, the fans at Wolves are loving it.
“They’ve got good players in good positions, they’ve got a bit of magic, a bit of stardust up front and in the middle of the park.
“I would probably have to go for Pep, but I really like the work that Nuno has done.”
OPINION
Wolves have been brilliant this season and their results against the teams in the top six suggest that they could go on to gatecrash the party next season. Nuno’s tactics have been absolutely spot-on and Raul Jimenez has been one of the standout players for Wolves, alongside Diogo Jota. Jimenez has scored 17 goals in all competitions in his debut season and really came into his own post-January. He’s set to complete a permanent move to Wolves in the summer and that’s a huge boost for them going into the 19/20 season. Ironically, Wolves were looking for a new striker in January and just missed out on Chelsea loanee Tammy Abraham. It will be interesting to see whether they feel the need to go back into the market again in the summer, but you feel that one or two quality additions could see Wolves make great strides next season. They’ve certainly shown how newly-promoted clubs should play. Okay, they’ve had a lot of money to spend, but they’ve got everything else spot-on and Townsend is right to hail the impact of Nuno.