Wolves loanee ‘wanted’ Spurs move; reveals Man U interest

Lewis Oldham
Wolves F365
Willian Jose

Willian Jose has revealed that he received interest from Tottenham, Manchester United and Barcelona before he joined Wolves on loan.

The striker signed for Real Sociedad in 2016. He has scored 62 times from his 172 appearances for them across all competitions.

His best goalscoring season for them came in 2017/18 as he bagged 20 times from his 40 outings.


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Jose joined Wolves on loan this season during the winter transfer window. He only netted once from his 17 appearances in the Premier League.

The forward has revealed (as cited by Sport Witness) that Tottenham were interested in him last summer and he “wanted” that move:

“I think [Real Sociedad] have not treated me well,” he told Noticias de Gipuzkoa.

“I expected a little more. I spoke with Roberto (Olabe), and he told me that if a big team came to play in the Champions League, they would let me go. I stayed calm.

“That’s when the offer came from Tottenham, a big Premier League team, which was playing in the Champions League.

“I had the dream of playing in the Premier League, and it was a very good opportunity for me. I no longer had been playing as I had previously done at La Real, and I saw that it was time to change. And they didn’t let me out.

“You have to take advantage of opportunities, and I saw that it was the opportunity. I got to talk to Jose Mourinho on the phone, and I really wanted to go to Tottenham.

“I told them that I wanted to go with them, and they were delighted with the possibility of me being there.

“In the end, things did not go well, and this year, they let me go to the Wolves. I don’t understand why a few months ago they didn’t want to let me out for 23 million.”

Jose later revealed during the same interview cited by Sport Witness that Real Sociedad prevented him from joining Man United and Barcelona:

“Then came Barcelona and an offer from Manchester United. I saw that it was an opportunity that I could not miss because life is like that. You have to take advantage of opportunities, and I saw that it was the opportunity.”