Champions League manager linked as Wolverhampton Wanderers sack Bruno Lage

Wolverhampton Wanderers have reportedly sacked manager Bruno Lage in the aftermath on Saturday’s defeat at West Ham United.

The former Benfica coach was named as successor to Nuno Espirito Santo at the start of last season and guided Wolves to a mid-table finish during what is now his only full campaign in charge.

However, Lage has endured a challenging start to the current season, despite over £100m on the likes of Matheus Nunes, Goncalo Guedes and Nathan Collins during the summer.

However, injuries to the likes of Raul Jiminez and summer signing Sasa Kalajdzic left Lage to battle on without a striker, with the recent emergency signing of former Chelsea star Diego Costa finally giving him an option at the top end of the pitch.

The former Spain international made his debut as a substitute in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at the London Stadium as his new side were left sat in the Premier League relegation zone after winning just one of their opening eight games of the season.

Speaking after the loss, Lage said: “The only thing I can say is that I’m sorry about the situation.

“We’ve tried to solve these little problems we have and at the moment we aren’t getting points or goals, but we are working hard for them.”

That solitary win came early last month when Daniel Podence scored the only goal to give his side a hard-earned three points in their home game with Southampton.

That proved to be a rare high in the opening two months of the season and speculation over Lage’s future began to increase during the international break.

Sunday afternoon brought widespread reports that Lage had been sacked by Wolves and former Olympiakos manager Pedro Martins was immediately linked with the vacancy by the Daily Mail.

Much like Lage and predecessor Nuno, the 52-year-old is believed to have strong links with Jorge Mendes, head of the Gestifute agency, who have enjoyed productive connection with the Molineux hierachy in recent years.

Martins lead Olympiakos to three consecutive Greek Super League titles over the last three seasons and also landed the Greek Cup in 2020 - but left the club in August after a highly-successful four-year reign.