# 2019–20 Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. season

The 2019–20 season was the 142nd in the history of Wolverhampton Wanderers and the 3rd under then-head coach Nuno Espírito Santo. In that season, they competed in the Premier League for the 2nd consecutive time, the EFL Cup, the FA Cup and in a UEFA/continental competition for the first time since 1980–81 through/via the UEFA Europa League.
As a result of the suspension of competitive football in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the club were unable to play any match for 3 months since the UEL match on 12 March. A restart of the Premier League was made on 17 June, with the club returning to action 3 days later.
The team repeated their 7th-place finish of the previous Premier League season – with an improved points tally – but, as a result of Arsenal winning the FA Cup, this position was not sufficient to qualify for the UEFA Europa League again. A top-6 position would only have been guaranteed with victory on the final day, but Wolves lost 0–2 at Chelsea. Their continental campaign concluded at the quarter-final stage of a modified single-leg final tournament in Germany with defeat to the eventual winners Sevilla, lasting 383 days in total and signified their best performance in a UEFA competition since reaching the inaugural UEFA Cup Final in 1972.

## Competitions
### Pre-season

Wolves were one of four teams invited to take part in the biennial Premier League Asia Trophy, which the team won. Owing to their participation in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League, these were the only other games the club undertook before the start of the league season.

### Premier League
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 5 | Leicester City | 38 | 18 | 8 | 12 | 67 | 41 | +26 | 62 | Qualification for the Europa League group stage |
| 6 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 16 | 11 | 11 | 61 | 47 | +14 | 59 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round |
| 7 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 38 | 15 | 14 | 9 | 51 | 40 | +11 | 59 | |
| 8 | Arsenal | 38 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 56 | 48 | +8 | 56 | Qualification for the Europa League group stage |
| 9 | Sheffield United | 38 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 39 | 39 | 0 | 54 | |
* ↑ Since the winners of the 2019–20 EFL Cup, Manchester City, qualified for the Champions League group stage by league position, the spot given to the EFL Cup winners (Europa League second qualifying round) was passed down to the sixth-placed team.
* ↑ Arsenal qualified for the Europa League group stage as the 2019–20 FA Cup winners.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 26 July 2020. Source: https://www.premierleague.com/tables

#### Results by matchday

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | D | D | D | L | L | D | W | W | D | D | D | W | W | D | W | D | L | W | W | L | L | D | W | L | D | D | W | W | D | W | W | W | L | L | W | D | W | L |
| Position | 13 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 19 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 |

#### Results

The provisional fixture list was released on 13 June 2019, but was subject to change in the event of matches being selected for television coverage or police concerns. The coronavirus pandemic caused the suspension of all fixtures scheduled between 11 March and the planned end of the season on 17 May. Revised fixture lists for the matchdays following the resumption of the league were published on 5 June and 18 June 2020.

### FA Cup

As a Premier League team, Wolves entered the competition at the third round proper stage in January 2020. The third round draw was made live on BBC Two from Etihad Stadium on 3 December 2019, Micah Richards and Tony Adams conducted the draw.

### EFL Cup

As a Premier League team involved in European competition, Wolves enter the competition in the third round. The third round draw was confirmed on 28 August 2019, live on Sky Sports. The draw for the fourth round was made on 25 September 2019.

### UEFA Europa League
#### Qualifying stage

As a result of their seventh place league finish in the previous season as well as Manchester City winning all 3 domestic trophies on offer that season, Wolves entered the competition in the second round qualifying round whose draw was confirmed on 19 June 2019. The draw for the third round qualifying round was made on 22 July 2019 prior to the second round qualifying-round matches. The play-off round draw was announced on 5 August 2019. Wolves were seeded in all three draws.

#### Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 30 August 2019. The club were drawn from pot 3 into Group K to face Beşiktaş, Braga and Slovan Bratislava.

##### Final table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | BRA | WOL | SLO | BES |
| 1 | Braga | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 9 | +6 | 14 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 3–3 | 2–2 | 3–1 |
| 2 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 13 | Advance to knockout phase | 0–1 | — | 1–0 | 4–0 |
| 3 | Slovan Bratislava | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 13 | −3 | 4 | | 2–4 | 1–2 | — | 4–2 |
| 4 | Beşiktaş | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 15 | −9 | 3 | | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | — |

##### Results
#### Knockout phase

The draw for the round of 32 was held on 16 December 2019. The club was unseeded due to finishing as runners-up in the group stage. The round of 16 ties were determined by an open draw held on 28 February 2020. The return leg of the team's round of 16 tie was postponed from its original date of 19 March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to conclude the competition as promptly as possible, UEFA decided to organise a single-leg mini tournament in Germany for the final eight teams. An open draw was conducted to this end on 10 July 2020.

### EFL Trophy

Wolves were one of the sixteen teams from outside the bottom two divisions of the English Football League to be invited to field their academy team in the competition due to it holding Category 1 academy status. They were drawn into Group G in the Northern section, from which they advanced in second place. Note: In group stage matches which were level at the end of 90 minutes a penalty shoot-out was held, with the winner earning a bonus point.

## Players
### Statistics

Key: ‡ On loan from another club * First appearance(s) for the club
* # = Squad number
* Pos = Playing position
* P = Number of games played 10
* G = Number of goals scored
* GK = Goalkeeper
* DF = Defender
* MF = Midfielder
* FW = Forward
* = Yellow cards
* = Red cards
* † Permanent player left club during the season
* ¤ Loaned to another club for part or all of season
Correct as of end of season. Starting appearances are listed first, followed by substitute appearances in parentheses where applicable.
| No. | Pos | Name | P | G | P | G | P | G | P | G | P | G | | |
| No. | Pos | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Other | Other | Total | Total | Discipline | Discipline | Notes |
| 2 | DF | Matt Doherty | 32(4) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 46(4) | 7 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | Jesús Vallejo ‡ | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6(1) | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | Ryan Bennett ¤ | 7(4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5(1) | 1 | 14(5) | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | Bruno Jordão | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0(1) | 0 | 2(2) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | Pedro Neto | 9(20) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4(7) | 2 | 17(27) | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | Rúben Neves | 35(3) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11(2) | 2 | 49(5) | 4 | 10 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | Raúl Jiménez | 37(1) | 17 | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13(2) | 10 | 51(4) | 27 | 7 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | Patrick Cutrone ¤ | 3(9) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4(6) | 0 | 9(15) | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | Daniel Podence | 3(6) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2(2) | 0 | 5(8) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 11 | GK | Rui Patrício | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 53 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | Willy Boly | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 35 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 16 | DF | Conor Coady | 38 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 57 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | Morgan Gibbs-White | 1(6) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6(1) | 1 | 7(8) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 18 | FW | Diogo Jota | 27(7) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8(6) | 9 | 35(13) | 16 | 5 | 1 |
| 19 | DF | Jonny | 33(2) | 2 | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8(3) | 0 | 42(6) | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| 21 | GK | John Ruddy | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | Dion Sanderson ¤ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 | MF | Taylor Perry | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1(1) | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 1(2) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 27 | MF | Romain Saïss | 31(2) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11(3) | 1 | 44(5) | 3 | 14 | 1 |
| 28 | MF | João Moutinho | 34(4) | 1 | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16(1) | 0 | 51(6) | 1 | 11 | 0 |
| 29 | DF | Rúben Vinagre | 6(10) | 0 | 1(1) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9(4) | 2 | 18(15) | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 30 | FW | Leonardo Campana | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | MF | Leander Dendoncker | 32(6) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11(6) | 2 | 45(12) | 6 | 7 | 0 |
| 33 | DF | Ryan Giles ¤ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | MF | Adama Traoré | 27(10) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12(3) | 2 | 41(13) | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| 39 | MF | Terry Taylor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | FW | Renat Dadashov | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 | DF | Max Kilman | 2(1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 10(1) | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 54 | MF | Owen Otasowie | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 56 | FW | Benny Ashley-Seal ¤ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 57 | MF | Meritan Shabani | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 58 | FW | Austin Samuels ¤ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 59 | DF | Oskar Buur | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 62 | GK | Andreas Söndergaard | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 66 | MF | Flávio Cristóvão † | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 68 | MF | Luke Cundle | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 75 | DF | Christian Marques | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 76 | DF | Lewis Richards | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 | MF | Chem Campbell | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* ↑ Jiménez was suspended vs Besiktas (h) due to accumulating two yellow cards in UEFA competitions.
* ↑ Boly was suspended vs Chelsea (h) due to receiving a second yellow card vs Everton (a).
* ↑ Jota was suspended vs Slovan Bratislava (h) due to receiving a second yellow card vs Slovan Bratislava (a).
* ↑ Saïss was suspended vs Reading (h) due to receiving a second yellow card vs Crystal Palace (a) and vs Sheffield United (h) due to accumulating a further five yellow cards.

### Awards

| Award | Winner |
| Fans' Player of the Season | Raúl Jiménez |
| Players' Player of the Season | Raúl Jiménez |
| Young Player of the Season | Pedro Neto |
| Academy Player of the Season | Christian Marques |
| Goal of the Season | Rúben Neves (vs Espanyol, 20 February 2020) |

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| Date | Position | Name | From | Fee | Team |
| 4 April 2019 | CF | Raúl Jiménez | Benfica | £30,000,000 | First team |
| 23 May 2019 | MF | Hong Wan | Yeovil Town | Undisclosed | Under-23s |
| 28 June 2019 | RB | Raphaël Nya | Paris Saint-Germain | Undisclosed | Under-23s |
| 1 July 2019 | DM | Leander Dendoncker | Anderlecht | £12,000,000 | First team |
| 3 July 2019 | CM | Lee Harkin | Moyola Park | Undisclosed | Academy |
| 10 July 2019 | CM | Tsun Dai | Oxford United | Undisclosed | Under-23s |
| 12 July 2019 | CF | Erik Bugarin | Celta Vigo | Undisclosed | Academy |
| 12 July 2019 | MF | Owen Hesketh | Manchester City | Undisclosed | Academy |
| 12 July 2019 | MF | Jack Scott | Linfield | Undisclosed | Academy |
| 30 July 2019 | CF | Patrick Cutrone | Milan | Undisclosed | First-team |
| 31 July 2019 | DM | Flávio Cristóvão | Aves | Free transfer | Under-23s |
| 2 August 2019 | CM | Bruno Jordão | Braga | Undisclosed | First-team |
| 2 August 2019 | RW | Pedro Neto | Braga | Undisclosed | First-team |
| 6 August 2019 | CF | Renat Dadashov | Estoril Praia | Undisclosed | Under-23s |
| 8 August 2019 | AM | Meritan Shabani | Bayern Munich | Undisclosed | Under-23s |
| 9 August 2019 | DF | Cyriaque Mayounga | Lyon | Undisclosed | Under-23s |
| 24 December 2019 | GK | Pálmi Rafn Arinbjörnsson | Njarðvík | Undisclosed | Academy |
| 15 January 2020 | DF | Justin Hubner | Den Bosch | Undisclosed | Academy |
| 21 January 2020 | CF | Leonardo Campana | Barcelona | Undisclosed | Under-23s |
| 24 January 2020 | CB | Nigel Lonwijk | PSV Eindhoven | Undisclosed | Under-23s |
| 30 January 2020 | LW | Daniel Podence | Olympiacos | Undisclosed | First-team |
| 31 January 2020 | RB | Luke Matheson | Rochdale | Undisclosed | Under-23s |

### Loans in

| Date | Position | Nationality | Name | From | Date Until | Team | Ref. |
| 27 July 2019 | CB | | Jesús Vallejo | Real Madrid | 24 January 2020 | First team | |
| 29 January 2020 | CM | | Enzo Loiodice | Dijon | 30 June 2020 | Under-23s | |
* ↑ This was originally to be a season-long loan but Wolves decided during the January transfer window to send Vallejo on a sub-loan to Granada.

### Transfers out

| Date | Position | Name | To | Fee | Team |
| 20 May 2019 | RB | Kevin Berkoe | Oxford United | Free transfer | Academy |
| 29 May 2019 | CB | Ethan Ebanks-Landell | Shrewsbury Town | Undisclosed | First team |
| 30 May 2019 | DF | Aaron Crabtree | SIU Edwardsville Cougars | Released | Academy |
| 30 May 2019 | CB | Ray O'Sullivan | Athlone Town | Released | Academy |
| 30 May 2019 | CF | Taylor Townsend | Alvechurch | Released | Academy |
| 30 May 2019 | CB | Ben Goodliffe | Sutton United | Released | Under-23s |
| 30 May 2019 | CB | Aaron Hayden | Carlisle United | Released | Under-23s |
| 30 May 2019 | RB | Diego Lattie | Droylsden | Released | Under-23s |
| 30 May 2019 | RW | Carlos Heredia | Miedź Legnica | Released | Under-23s |
| 30 May 2019 | FW | Enzo Sauvage | Athlético Marseille | Released | Under-23s |
| 30 May 2019 | RW | Michał Żyro | Korona Kielce | Released | First team |
| 17 June 2019 | CB | Kortney Hause | Aston Villa | £3,000,000 | First team |
| 1 July 2019 | GK | Adrián Álvarez | Leganés | Free transfer | Under-23s |
| 2 July 2019 | MF | João Caiado | Famalicão | Undisclosed | Under-23s |
| 2 July 2019 | CM | Pedro Gonçalves | Famalicão | Undisclosed | Under-23s |
| 8 July 2019 | LW | Sherwin Seedorf | Motherwell | Undisclosed | Under-23s |
| 10 July 2019 | CB | Ryan Leak | Burgos | Free transfer | Under-23s |
| 22 July 2019 | CF | Donovan Wilson | Burgos | Free transfer | Under-23s |
| 23 July 2019 | GK | Jack Ruddy | Ross County | Free transfer | First team |
| 3 September 2019 | GK | Jack Atkinson | Bangor City | Free transfer | Under-23s |
| 8 September 2019 | MF | Paulinho | Příbram | Free transfer | Under-23s |
| 7 January 2020 | RW | Ivan Cavaleiro | Fulham | Undisclosed | First team |
| 31 January 2020 | LB | Sylvain Deslandes | Argeș | Undisclosed | Under-23s |
| 31 January 2020 | GK | Harry Burgoyne | Shrewsbury Town | Undisclosed | First team |
| 31 January 2020 | CM | Flávio Cristóvão | Juniors OÖ | Free transfer | Under-23s |
| 14 May 2020 | CF | Bright Enobakhare | AEK Athens | Left by mutual consent | First team |

### Loans out

| Date from | Position | Name | To | Date until | Team |
| 5 June 2019 | CM | Christián Herc | Viktoria Plzeň | 30 June 2021 | Under-23s |
| 28 June 2019 | MF | Connor Ronan | FC DAC 1904 | 31 December 2019 | Under-23s |
| 1 July 2019 | FW | David Wang | Granollers | 23 February 2020 | Under-23s |
| 1 July 2019 | LM | Ryan Giles | Shrewsbury Town | 17 January 2020 | Under-23s |
| 3 July 2019 | RW | Hélder Costa | Leeds United | 30 June 2020 | First team |
| 13 July 2019 | RW | Ivan Cavaleiro | Fulham | 7 January 2020 | First team |
| 30 July 2019 | FW | Rafa Mir | Nottingham Forest | 2 January 2020 | First team |
| 30 July 2019 | GK | Will Norris | Ipswich Town | 30 June 2020 | First team |
| 2 August 2019 | CF | Niall Ennis | Doncaster Rovers | 30 June 2020 | Under-23s |
| 2 August 2019 | CB | Cameron John | Doncaster Rovers | 30 June 2020 | Under-23s |
| 6 August 2019 | CF | Renat Dadashov | Paços de Ferreira | 1 January 2020 | Under-23s |
| 8 August 2019 | CF | Bright Enobakhare | Wigan Athletic | 1 January 2020 | First team |
| 8 August 2019 | GK | James Pardington | Bath City | 30 June 2020 | Under-23s |
| 30 August 2019 | CF | Léo Bonatini | Vitória | 30 June 2020 | First team |
| 1 September 2019 | CB | Roderick | Famalicão | 30 June 2020 | First team |
| 3 September 2019 | CB | Connor Johnson | Kilmarnock | 30 June 2020 | Under-23s |
| 6 September 2019 | DM | Sadou Diallo | Accrington Stanley | 30 June 2020 | Under-23s |
| 1 January 2020 | CM | Elliot Watt | Carlisle United | 30 June 2020 | Under-23s |
| 10 January 2020 | CF | Patrick Cutrone | Fiorentina | 7 January 2021 | First team |
| 14 January 2020 | CF | Rafa Mir | Huesca | 30 June 2021 | First team |
| 16 January 2020 | FW | Austin Samuels | Kidderminster Harriers | 30 June 2020 | Under-23s |
| 17 January 2020 | MF | Connor Ronan | Blackpool | 30 June 2020 | Under-23s |
| 20 January 2020 | LB | John Kitolano | Molde | 31 December 2020 | Under-23s |
| 31 January 2020 | CF | Benny Ashley-Seal | Accrington Stanley | 30 June 2020 | Under-23s |
| 31 January 2020 | LM | Ryan Giles | Coventry City | 30 June 2020 | Under-23s |
| 31 January 2020 | LW | Jordan Graham | Gillingham | 30 June 2020 | First team |
| 31 January 2020 | RB | Luke Matheson | Rochdale | 30 June 2020 | First team |
| 31 January 2020 | RW | Callum Thompson | Bohemians | 30 June 2020 | Under-23s |
| 31 January 2020 | CB | Dion Sanderson | Cardiff City | 30 June 2020 | Under-23s |
| 31 January 2020 | CB | Ryan Bennett | Leicester City | 30 June 2020 | First team |
| 11 February 2020 | FW | Boubacar Hanne | Grasshopper | 30 June 2020 | Under-23s |
| 18 February 2020 | MF | Hong Wan | NK Varaždin | 30 June 2020 | Under-23s |
| 18 February 2020 | DF | Ed Francis | Grasshopper | 30 June 2020 | Under-23s |
| 25 February 2020 | FW | David Wang | Nantong Zhiyun | 31 December 2020 | Under-23s |
* ↑ This was originally to be a season-long loan but Giles was recalled during the January transfer window.

## Kits

| Home | Home alt. | Away | Away alt.1 | Away alt.2 | Third |