Also listed as a first-team coach is
Julio Figueroa, perhaps the least known of Nuno’s team of seven.
Figueroa (fourth from left, above) is out on the pitch for every training session but his role has little to do with tactics, or coaching, or fitness; Figueroa is a coach of the mind.
The oldest of the group at 56, Figueroa was born in Argentina and previously worked as a sports psychologist with Barcelona’s youth academy, as well as professor in sports psychology at the University of Vic in Catalonia.
An expert in implementing approaches to improve high-level sport performance, Figueroa was hired by Nuno at Valencia, giving talks to players and taking individual sessions.
This work has continued at Wolves, where he is said to have been instrumental in helping Adama Traore through last year’s difficult spell when the Spaniard was in and out of the side.
Traore’s potential has been unleashed this season, in no small part thanks to Figueroa’s guidance and positive thinking.
A calm and perennially smiling figure, Figueroa’s role during training sessions is one of incessant encouragement, but it’s away from the grass where he comes into his own. After last year’s crushing semi-final defeat to Watford, he was overheard to say: “This setback is not a defeat; this is something that will make you hungrier to do better.”
Figueroa has also instigated “reset” sessions during particularly congested periods of the fixture calendar. The players will assemble together at Compton and be encouraged to sleep, listening to Figueroa’s soothing and softly-spoken words during relax-therapy and stretching sessions.
Personal situations, problems at home, issues with match-day performances; Figueroa is the go-to man if anyone is struggling. Again, he’s amiable, friendly and always free for a warm handshake, and though his English is admittedly still slightly limited, it is improving and he has the respect and in some cases adoration of the players.
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