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Fifteen hundred miles from Molineux, in southern Spain, there’s a small town club which mirrors Wolverhampton Wanderers.

They’re under Chinese ownership, have a Portuguese head coach with links to Wolverhampton’s favourite super-agent and the small matter of nine Wolves players on their books.

Introducing Futbol Club Jumilla - the Segunda B side which will play an integral part in Fosun’s plan to make Wolves a European superpower.

Alex Dicken shows you around the club integral to Wolves' plans:

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The deal was officially announced in August but it had been in the pipeline for some time with Jumilla owner Steven Lee a close friend of Wolves’ power brokers.

In an exclusive interview with BirminghamLive, Lee told us: “We met in Shanghai several years ago. In football everybody knows everybody.

“In Shanghai there are not many people in charge of football overseas so that’s why we meet, talk about it and come up with an interesting idea.”

Lee, who speaks fluent English, enjoys a particularly close relationship with Wolves director Sky Sun.

“We contact each other very often,” Sun explains. “We have been friends for a long time. His partner was my wife’s high school classmate!”

After rising to fame commentating on Spanish football in China, Lee bought Jumilla in 2016 - shortly before Fosun’s £30million takeover of Wolves - and has provided what was previously a crisis club with a sense of stability.

However, Jumilla’s location - around a 45 minute drive from Spain’s seventh city Murcia in the countryside - means Lee has struggled to attract players capable of taking his club to the next level.

Spain’s third tier is split into four leagues of 20 teams with a large sprinkling of sides affiliated with La Liga’s elite clubs making it even tougher for the likes of Jumilla to thrive.

Wolves’ support is crucial in Lee’s quest to take the Vinícolas to the next level following a succession of mid-table finishes.

“It’s the third year we’ve been in management,” Lee added. “For the previous two seasons it has been very difficult.

“It’s a countryside, not a big city, so players go to our neighbours like (Real) Murcia. It’s difficult to attract good enough players and extremely difficult to generate income. For such a small club it’s tough to survive in this category.

“There are 80 teams in Segunda B and one quarter of those are affiliated teams so it’s extremely difficult to compete.

“We think that with the partnership of Wolverhampton that even as a small club like Jumilla we might have a chance to not just survive but to maybe go further.”

Wolves have dozens of players currently out on loan but the likes of Jack Ruddy and Donovan Wilson were actively encouraged by club officials to sign for Jumilla in the summer despite other offers being available to them.

Lee said: “We really appreciate Wolverhampton has made a great effort to convince some young and promising players to come here.

“Nowadays some English kids tend to look for chances overseas, like Jadon Sancho in Dortmund, but normally they don’t like to be living abroad and playing games abroad.

“I think it’s a great chance for them to experience this life. Here the football is tough and hopefully they can learn something.”

Fosun are effectively using Jumilla as an extension of their academy, which is an area owner Guo Guangchang and his associates have pinpointed for improvement.

As the partnership develops and Jumilla progress, the calibre of player Wolves send over to Spain will improve.

If everything goes to plan we could eventually see players heading the other way with Jumilla hoping Wolves’ backing will see talented Spaniards sign for them rather than their rivals in the coming years.

Sporting director Pedro Asensio explains: “For Jumilla, with this agreement, we can be more competitive. To have players of great talent and a mix of young players and experienced.

“Experienced players that help and teach young people to improve their training.

“FC Jumilla is also more attractive with this agreement when it comes to being able to sign young Spanish players in the future.”

The man presiding over Jumilla’s season is Leonel Pontes - a highly-rated Portuguese coach who taught Cristiano Ronaldo, Rui Patricio and Joao Moutinho within Sporting’s academy.

Pontes is highly intelligent and fluent in Spanish, English and French in addition to his native language. He studied extensively in his youth and devoted his life to coaching after suffering a career-ending knee injury at the age of 23.

(Image: FC Jumilla)

He enjoyed a hugely successful partnership with Paulo Bento at Sporting and latterly Portugal’s national team before deciding to go it alone in 2014 with Primeira Liga side Marítimo.

Pontes has since managed in Greece, Egypt and Hungary before being appointed Jumilla boss at the beginning of the season.

“Sometimes you need to (take a) risk to have a different step in your life,” Pontes, 46, said of his journey. “I collected a lot of experience from people working with me and I began to work as a manager in 2014 and now I’m in Jumilla.”

Wolves are understandably eager for their youngsters to play first team football, but Pontes’ only concern is picking the best XI to accumulate victories and keep his bosses happy.

Despite Aaron Simpson, Ryan Leak, Sylvain Deslandes, Ming-Yang Yang, Boubacar Hanne and Wilson being heavily involved, Ruddy and Will Randall haven’t, whilst Ben Stevenson has been used sparingly.

(Image: FC Jumilla)

When asked about the loan contingent, Pontes responded: “It’s not easy for a foreign player to adapt to a different country with a different language, different food and a different way of thinking football.

“We have tried to make them comfortable and give them good training conditions. They accept this challenge and in this moment all of them are growing up.

“They must fight when they are out of the team and they must understand that football is not easy.

“They do not come here and just play, they must fight for the position and understand that sometimes others are better than them.

“If they play good I will keep them in the team, if they don’t play good they will drop out.”