The Basque Country is the place countless elite coaches call home, among them Unai Emery, Mikel Arteta, Andoni Iraola and Xabi Alonso. But the Spanish region, in the western Pyrenees close to the French border, is famed for something else as Julen Lopetegui, another of those with roots there, can vouch. “More Michelin stars per square kilometre than anywhere else in the world,” the Wolves manager says. “So we have a lot! And I know all of them. One of them went to school with me, Martín Berasategui; he has 12 Michelin stars. He was my friend at school.”
It explains Lopetegui’s interest in hospitality. Growing up, he helped his parents at their restaurant in Asteasu, and he co-owns Asador Imanol, a restaurant in Madrid. As he reflects on those early days in the family business, one sitting, when all the covers were taken, sticks in the memory. “A friend of mine came [in] with a ball,” he says. “My job was to attend the flames on the grill – that was my only job. So my father told me to watch 25 one-kilo steaks … big steaks! So I’m looking after the fire and saying: ‘It will be OK. For a few seconds, I’ll play football.’ But it was more like 10 minutes and the steaks all caught on fire! My father comes and they are all on fire. It was the equivalent of one week’s wages … all gone! It was my fault. Can you imagine?”
He is at ease speaking in the Wolves canteen – or the Wolves performance kitchen, as the sign overhead says – at their Compton training base, where the mood is rather more relaxed. A couple of hours earlier the players and football staff had enjoyed a barbecue to celebrate Wolves becoming the first top-flight club since Leicester in 2014-2015 to avoid relegation after being bottom on Christmas Day. Safety had been secured with three games to spare. This time, though, Lopetegui was not on the coals. “I am the master of the grill, believe me,” he laughs. “We have the best restaurant in the city – it is here. We have very good chefs here. I like trying different restaurants, in Birmingham, in different places. If you know a good restaurant, tell me.”
At the start of this conversation Lopetegui addresses the elephant in the room: his future. He reiterates that he wants clarity over Wolves’ plans for the coming months amid financial fair play restraints; the club must make a profit on transfers this summer to avoid exceeding an accumulated £105m loss over a three-year period. But he has been noncommittal about staying despite two years remaining on the contract he signed last November. “The future does not depend on me, it depends on the club,” was his verdict on Sunday.
There has been little downtime in the hectic six months since he succeeded Bruno Lage. He enjoys watching the odd television series with his wife, Rosa, to improve his English – Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is the latest pick – and occasionally plays piano with his daughter, Maria. “I am a frustrated pianist,” the 56-year-old laughs. “She doesn’t want to do it any more because of her father’s frustration … when I want to be alone I like to play piano.”
He is glad he agreed to join the pack at Wolves. “When I came here a lot of friends, family, coaches said: ‘Why have you gone there? You don’t need that. Stay. Wait.’ Because I had before the possibility to come to the Premier League. But I felt that maybe I could test myself, it was a challenge for me as a coach, a different challenge, and I came here without thinking a lot. Fortunately we achieved our aim. We tried to convince the players that the solution is not about me, it’s about them. Sometimes players are waiting for a magic solution but it does not exist.”
Lopetegui is a manager of great pedigree. He has coached some of the world’s best players with Porto, Real Madrid, Spain and Sevilla, whom he led to the Europa League title three years ago. On Wednesday the six-times winners will compete for the crown again, against Roma in Budapest. But Wolves is the first job – in football at least – where family have followed him through the door. Lopetegui’s eldest son, Daniel, a performance analyst who previously worked for MK Dons, works closely with the recruitment department and the sporting director, Matt Hobbs. “They have done very good work. That’s why it is a pity that we cannot take advantage of this work this month if we are not able to invest money.”
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As a goalkeeper for Real Madrid, Barcelona, where he played alongside Pep Guardiola, and Rayo Vallecano he broke every finger. He was obsessed with the game as a kid – it is why he refers to himself as the black sheep of the family – and intrigued by the idea of coaching towards the end of his playing days at Barça with Johan Cruyff. “He was the first coach who made you think: ‘Why are we doing this drill?’” He would later pick the brains of Louis van Gaal. “I was a very disturbing player for the coaches because I started to ask a lot of questions.”
He has told Daniel to also be inquisitive. “He wants the power of the sporting director, he wants to go this way. He studied [football business and finance] at a university in London. I always tell him: ‘It’s better they think you are stupid once because you asked, rather than be stupid all your life because you didn’t ask.’” Was his son put off coaching because he has witnessed the stresses it brings? Lopetegui laughs. “I think he would prefer to wear a tie and sack the manager!”