Wolverhampton Wanderers

We asked for your views on the news that Mario Lemina was going to be the new Wolves captain.

Here are some of your comments:

Dave: The right choice. Dare I say it, but we may have picked up a couple more points had he been captain last season. He is vocal and leads by example. Not sure Max Kilman did either.

Karen: Excellent. The captain should be in midfield or defence, in my opinion. He is a great choice.

Martin: Great choice. He will lead by example. Nobody works harder on the pitch than Super Mario.

West Wales Wulf: Absolutely had to be. The man has been outstanding since his first day at the club! Leads by example.

Richard: Mario was the obvious choice, and for good reason. Straw polls among fans after Max's departure showed two-thirds of us would back him for the captaincy. He shows tremendous leadership on and off the pitch and has clearly made Molineux his home. Absolutely spot-on decision by O'Neil that will help us kick on next season.

Ricky: Lemina was my first choice. I was not impressed with him signing for us until his first game. He's just what we needed. He seems like a leader on the pitch.

Image source, Getty Images

Mario Lemina has been named as Wolves' captain.

The midfielder, who came to Molineux in January 2023, has skippered the team in their first two pre-season matches and will replace the departed Max Kilman with the armband.

"Mario was a standout choice for me," manager Gary O'Neil said.

"We have some real good leaders in the group but I think, for Mario, it's really good timing for him. He has big respect from the players, around all the different groups, and drives standards.

“We had a little chat to check his thinking and he was really pleased and excited, and he's done it really well since he’s taken over the last few weeks.

"He's very good at portraying the messages that we want and what the group needs. I'm excited to see what we can do, what Mario can do, and how the players can perform this year with Mario as their captain."

How do you feel about this decision, Wolves fans? Is Lemina the right choice or did another player deserve the armband?

Let us know your thoughts here, external

Pat Nevin
Former footballer and presenter

Image source, Getty Images

It isn't quiet in one specific part of the major football clubs - the acquisitions department.

I know that because I was once the acquisitions department - well me and the manager mostly. While each player returned from holidays like a bronzed Adonis, we were cooped up in a small darkened room, beavering the daylight hours away like vampires.

There is plenty of guesswork in the media and a fair bit of leaking from the players and their people, but the clubs usually try to keep their transfer moves as quiet as possible.

If word gets out that a player is available, they know they might lose him to another club or else the price will increase as a bidding war erupts.

‌These are high stakes games and many are impressed by those who gamble and go early.

Manchester City have always been good enough, and let's be honest wealthy enough, to be able to do this well.

The problem is that some clubs are trying to do the same thing and are ending up paying top dollar for less able players, because they haven't done their due diligence in the market.

This is another area where the use of data, or maybe over-reliance on pure data, comes into play - feed all of the numbers in, let the technology do the crunching, and out comes the answer.

The problem is that everyone else has got the same or similar data.

What is needed, of course, is good human knowledge and the vision to aid the use of the information they have got. This is why these departments should be busy just now, they shouldn't just be doing deals which are admittedly very complex legal and financial documents these days.

Even more time should be spent on ensuring the new £75m player hasn't got a hidden weakness in his game or even the odd skeleton in his closet.

Pat Nevin was writing for the BBC Football Extra Newsletter

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Scotland striker Che Adams has agreed a contract in principle at Torino and is set for a medical on Monday.

The Serie A side are believed to have beaten Premier League clubs to Adams' signature, with Wolves having reportedly been interested.

The 28-year-old is expected to sign a multi-year deal in Italy after his contract at Southampton expired at the end of June.

Adams scored 17 goals in 46 games as the Saints won promotion back to the Premier League by beating Leeds United in the Championship play-off final.

Image source, Getty Images

It seems inevitable a host of Premier League managers will point to fixture congestion in the months to come.

When injuries mount, or when time on the training ground is squeezed, coaches often reference the intense nature of the calendar.

But research conducted by the respected CIES Football Observatory has delivered data which shows clubs are - on average - not playing more competitive games than they have in the last couple of decades.

The CIES looked at 677 clubs across 40 leagues. In looking at a period from 2012 to 2024, its findings show in 2023-24, the average club played 42.4 competitive matches. In 2014-15 that figure was 42.6 and in 2020-21 it hit 43.9.

And if focus is placed on sides competing in the Champions League, data gathered between 2000 and 2024 also shows sides are not setting fixture records in the current game, as some managers may like to loosely imply.

In looking at the five major European Leagues, the CIES claim Champions League competitors played an average of 50.8 matches last season.

In 2020-21 they averaged 57.9 and in 2002-03 they contested 55.2.

Manchester United played in 52 competitive games last season, down from highs of 71 in 2020-21 and 66 in 2008-09.

Across all of the clubs analysed, only 4% played more than 60 games last season. In 2012-13, the figure stood at 5.1%.

While clubs may play added friendlies and - it would be fair to say - individual matches tend to be longer given increased injury time in the current game, the data shows that competitive fixture numbers are flat or have in most cases fallen, even if disgruntled managers say otherwise.

The full study is here, external

We asked you who you'd like to see made Wolves captain for the new campaign.

Two men got the brunt of selections, with Mario Lemina on 56% and Craig Dawson on 32%.

It seems you'd like one of these to lead Gary O'Neil's side as the likes of Matheus Cunha (6%), Nelson Semedo (2%), Jose Sa (2%) and Joao Gomes (1%) were peripheral when you picked your preferred captain.

The figures above are at the time of writing and the selections are available here.

Image source, Getty Images

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Craig Dawson's influence cannot be underestimated.

At about £3m from West Ham in January 2023, the defender was an absolute steal for what he has given to Wolves and he has led by example.

Dawson's nine-year spell at rivals West Brom has been forgotten because of his commitment and assured nature. He has often been the quiet lynchpin of a defence which has sometimes needed a senior head to guide it.

A groin injury forced him to miss the final 12 matches of last season. He did not play following the 3-0 defeat at Newcastle United in early March - and perhaps it was no coincidence Wolves' form collapsed.

An FA Cup quarter-final exit to Coventry City and just two wins without Dawson in the run-in meant the side slipped out of European contention.

At 34, Dawson cannot be expected to go on forever, but Gary O’Neil knows he will be able to rely on him.