'I don't need him': Wolves star's future in doubt after impressive Vitor Pereira rant but initial offer rejected

New Wolves coach Vitor Pereira left Mario Lemina stranded in a stunning rant about his captain.

The Portuguese coach lashed out at the midfielder, who was surprisingly absent in his team's 3-0 defeat to Newcastle.

An almost guaranteed starter for wolvesThe Gabon international's name was not on the team sheet before the match, and Pereira waited until after the match to reveal all.

He said: “I can't bring in a player who comes to me and says he's not mentally fit to help the team, 'I want to leave'.

“I don't know what happened before me, but with this energy and mentality, I don't need it. I would prefer to play with another player.

“I don't know what happened before me, but with this energy and this mentality I don't need it. I prefer to play with another player.”

Pereira added: “I have nothing against Lemina or any problem with him.

“He told me he wanted to leave and communicated this decision to the club a month ago.”

Only four Wolves players have made more Premier League appearances than Lemina's 17 this season.

Lemina was captain of the club under Gary O'Neil and one of the most important players in the Midlands team just a few weeks ago.

talkSPORT understands Pereira's former club Al-Shabab had a bid for the 31-year-old rejected.

He is interested in moving to Saudi Arabia, but Galatasaray are also interested.

Wolves are understood to want £5million for the player whose contract expires in the summer, although there is an option to activate his deal for a further year.

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an ex Southampton Player, he joined Wolves from Nice in 2023 and has scored six goals in 77 games.

Without Lemina, Wolves suffered another defeat, with a brace from Alexander Isak and a goal from Anthony Gordon leaving the visitors leaving the North East empty-handed.

The 3-0 scoreline put them below Ipswich on goal difference and into the relegation zone.

Pereira's time at Molineux began impressively with back-to-back wins over Leicester and Manchester United with five goals scored and none conceded.

However, they have been quite the opposite in their last two games in the league, losing 3-0 to Nottingham Forest before today's blow.

Pereira has already had a reinforcement in this window, with Emmanuel Agbadou arriving from Stade Reims and jumping straight into first-team action.