Julen Lopetegui: ‘When I came to Wolves a lot of friends asked me why’

T he 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