Wolves transfer news: Celta Vigo president admits selling Fer Lopez 'hurt', reveals reason why sale was necessary

Celta Vigo president Marian Moriano has suggested that the La Liga side have no choice but to sell Fer Lopez to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

During the summer transfer window, the Premier League club completed the surprise signing of the Spanish prospect in an alleged £19m deal.

The transfer caused frustration at Celta Vigo with the fanbase furious that one of their homegrown talents was being sold after just half-a-season in the first team.

Twenty-one-year-old Lopez had started to make an impact in the senior ranks, yet was ultimately sold after making seven starts and 13 substitute outings.

Celta president explains Lopez Wolves transfer

Speaking to Faro de Vigo, Moriano has explained at length why the decision was taken to cash in on Lopez, suggesting that preventing his departure would have led to a much weaker squad being compiled for 2025-26.

Moriano said: "The way we’ve structured the salary cap in recent years, we always end the season having to make a sale. That doesn’t mean we had to sell López, but there was talk throughout the season that Celta should sell players for approximately €30m to balance the books.

“This, although difficult to understand, is like a loan that La Liga gives you because you’ve sold players in previous seasons, and you can spend it or not. If you spend more than your salary cap on a squad, you have to replace it at the end of the year, and you do that by selling. So, we had to sell for that amount.

“I said I wasn’t going to sell just for the sake of selling. But an offer came from Fer’s agent that interested all parties, which met the sale figures we had planned. It’s in everyone’s interest for this deal to happen. Fer is willing to leave, he wants to leave, and we’re happy with the offer and we’re selling him.”

She added: "When you have to make a decision to sell, you weigh up a lot of things. But if a sale for that amount didn’t happen before June 30th, it would have been impossible to maintain the squad.

“We wouldn’t have been able to afford to buy Ilaix (Moriba) , bring in Borja (Iglesias), bring in Bryan (Zaragoza), Ferran (Jutgla)...we would have gone to a very different squad.”

“You have to make the best of bad decisions. It always hurts, of course. But that’s how it is.”

Who got the best deal?

Given his lack of first-team minutes at Celta Vigo, it was always a long shot that Lopez would be thrust straight into Premier League action with Wolves, regardless of their poor start to the season.

As it stands, the Spain Under-21 international has made one start and three substitute outings in England's top flight, as well as earning 73 minutes in an EFL Cup tie against West Ham United.

Meanwhile, Celta Vigo are the only team in La Liga to not win a game, recording six draws and two defeats from their eight fixtures.

With the money in the bank, Celta Vigo will be deemed to have the better side of the deal thus far, but big things are expected of Lopez once he settles at Molineux.

That said, he is without any senior minutes since September 20, Wolves' three-game unbeaten streak in all competitions leading to Lopez being one of the players to remain on the sidelines.