Wolves Turn to Hull's Lee Darnbrough in Search for New Sporting Director

Exclusive - Wolverhampton Wanderers are continuing their search for a new sporting director, with Hull City head of recruitment Lee Darnbrough high on their wish list.


Wolves lost former director Kevin Thelwell back in February as he left to take up a role as head of sport with New York Red Bulls, and they have been looking for a suitable replacement ever since.


Kevin Thelwell left Wolves in February

A source has confirmed to 90min that Wolves' preference is to maintain a British presence in the boardroom, and a number of different candidates have been discussed. One name which keeps cropping up in talks is Darnbrough.


Darnbrough, who has been with Hull since 2017, has previously spent time with West Bromwich Albion, Burnley and Norwich City and is seen as someone with a deep knowledge of the British transfer market.


He is credited with helping Hull land exciting young talents like Reece Burke, Jordy de Wijs and Leonardo da Silva Lopes, while he was also the man to bring Tom Heaton and Michael Keane to Burnley, and his talent spotting and ability to broker deals has earned Darnbrough an impressive reputation within football.


Lee Darnbrough brought Tom Heaton & Michael Keane to Burnley

The former analyst has spent time working closely with both Tony Mowbray and Sean Dyche at his former clubs, and his ability to identify signings earned him a promotion to Norwich's head of scouting in 2015.


Wolves are looking for someone to work closely with first-team manager Nuno Espírito Santo as they look to continue to build on their outstanding transfer business in recent years.


Raul Jimenez is one of several fantastic recent signings at Molineux

A Championship side just two seasons ago, Wolves are already one of the Premier League's strongest clubs, and while Nuno deserves lots of praise for that, plenty of compliments must be paid to the scouting department at Molineux, who have continued to exceed expectations with their recent business.


The likes of Diogo Jota, Rúben Neves, Raúl Jiménez and Adama Traoré have all joined Wolves since Fosun International took over in 2016, and the success of all those signings has helped Wolves climb all the way up to sixth in the Premier League.



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Source : 90min