Wolves' Daniel Podence targets Champions League

Daniel Podence has outlined his Champions League ambitions after signing for Wolves for £17million.

The 24-year-old Portuguese winger has arrived from Greek club Olympiakos on a four-and-a-half-year deal.

And having played Champions League football for them – scoring against Tottenham in the competition earlier this season – he wants to do the same under Nuno Espirito Santo.

“My individual goals are to play as much as possible, help the team with goals and assists and collectively, I’d like to qualify for the Champions League,” said Podence, who is eligible for Wolves’ Europa League double-header against Espanyol next month. “That is a goal that’s within our reach, and I hope we can have a better season than last year.”

Podence is the third most expensive signing in Wolves’ history, behind Raul Jimenez (£32m) and Adama Traore (£18m).

He takes the No.10 shirt that was recently vacated by Patrick Cutrone, and is available for tomorrow’s game at Manchester United.

And on coming to Molineux, Podence said: “I’m very excited. It was always a childhood dream of mine to play in the Premier League and I look at this as a dream come true. Wolves are a team with a big project, with ambitious goals to look forward to, where I’ll get to meet former team-mates with whom I had the pleasure to play with in the past and I hope to be very successful here.”

Podence played with Wolves shot-stopper Rui Patricio at Sporting Lisbon, and with Ruben Neves and Diogo Jota for Portugal’s under-21s.

“That was one of the reasons I chose Wolverhampton. Of course, I spoke with Rui,” he said. “The club’s evolution over the last years has been evident to people all over the world. The first few times I’ve heard about Wolverhampton was from the time Silas was playing here, around the 2000s, but now it’s a much bigger club with big aspirations.”