SO THE WINDOW IS CLOSED AND CHRIS HUMPHRIES LOOKS AGAIN AT HOW WOLVES HAVE FARED.
So, the transfer window has finally shut, after spending many hours trying to come up with a way of describing very little activity before the start of the season , it’s fair to say since my last article things definitely got a little more interesting.
So, I think it’s always good to look at who has departed and why ? before looking at who has come in, noting that I had already commented on the arrival of Nathan Collins, so I won’t cover him as part of this section.
OUTGOINGS
CONOR COADY (LOAN)
It was a well-publicised parting of the ways for our captain, ultimately as the whole window progressed there was pretty much a changing of the guard atmosphere to the window. Conor was quite firmly at that start of the process as Bruno strove to move to a back four, with Conor seen as not being the right fit for our new style, there was a gracious exit – fitting of someone who has served the club so well. Conor moved on loan to Everton where he will and is getting the game time he needs to help him nail down his place in the world cup squad – in true style Conor showed just what a guy he is with a great message to the fans and club thanking them – and with a blink of an eye, Conor Coady went from sitting on the bench at Wolves to playing for the first team at Goodison Park.
MARÇAL - RELEASED
Somewhat injury prone, but I have to say pretty solid when he did actually get on the field, a full back more than a wingback he would have suited our new formation but sadly in the twilight of his career and not able to produce sustained availability. Marcal left on a free transfer back to his native homeland .
Morgan Gibbs White - Nottingham Forest, £42.5m
Morgan started the season well with us with some promise for the future, but it soon became apparent that offers of undeniable attraction were coming our way and with the sudden shift of long term targets coming available, Morgan moved to Forest. With a move he has the chance with a sustained first team run to prove his skill and ability is actually tangible and not something of a fable. He never really delivered for Wolves despite all the plaudits that came his way which is probably why the club looked to take a sizeable offer for him and use that money elsewhere to develop our squad. Ultimately quite sad that one of our homegrown leaves in this way but in the end probably a deal that suits all parties(if not more so Wolves)
Leander Dendonker - Aston Villa, £13m
With a contract that was about to start winding down, Wolves received a deadline day offer from Villa for Leander and took the option to sell him for a respectable 13 million considering his remaining length of contract with the club. A Marmite figure and the subject in my opinion of some absolutely vile abuse by our own fans at times, Leander was a very steady dependable guy for the club he was never going to turn into Pirlo, but he was a good calming influence on our midfield- I personally thought he was going to be used as a midfield solidity substitution in the games this season, but being brought on too late against Newcastle indicated to me and probably has to Leander that his future really needed to be elsewhere. I can say nothing but praise for the effort that Leander has given us during his time here.
Fabio Silva - Anderlecht, loan
It was somewhat a surprise to me that Fabio went on loan, I thought towards the latter end of last season he had come into his own more in the side and looked dangerous, a lot more solid and looked to be starting to show why we had invested so much into him. Until the signing of a striker almost at the end of the window this looked to be a mistake as we are really struggling to score goals , however now we have recruited some more manpower in this area – it will be interesting to see how the loan develops , first impressions are that it is working well, he is banging in the goals for fun and that can only do nothing but help him develop both tactically and also mentally by boosting his confidence
Ruben Vinagre - Sporting CP, undisclosed
Time to be polite, Ruben finally left us for an undisclosed fee that I believe was inserted as a clause in the loan deal agreed with sporting and has subsequently gone to Everton, a player with promise but always flattered to deceive, was more attacking than defensive and I for one am particularly glad his chapter as a Wolves player has ended!
Renat Dadashov - Grasshopper, undisclosed
A player that’s again has showed promise that has been hampered by an unbelievable number of injuries, sadly I think his days as a Wolves player are numbered, we can maybe hope he shows some form and gets back to fitness with the possibility that at least some revenue can be gained by any future transfer
Meritan Shabani - Grasshopper, undisclosed
See Dadashov!!!
A player that’s again has showed promise that has been hampered by an unbelievable number of injuries, sadly I think his days as a Wolves player are numbered, we can maybe hope he shows some form and gets back to fitness with the possibility that at least some revenue can be gained by any future transfer
Conor Carty - Bolton, free
Young midfielder that came through the club’s youth system. The club has taken the view that unfortunately Conor wasn’t going to reach the level of the first team for us and his footballing career was served best by moving on, he has since signed for Bolton Wanderers where he can now look to develop his career and maybe prove those at wolves wrong in the future
Romain Saiss - Besiktas, free
We all knew this was happening, Romain left us and has since made some comments that signal things were not quite right with the manager and senior players maybe. Romain was a great servant to us, a major contributor to some humorous video clips on the website, a massive part of the Nuno era and a great player for us. Memories of him lying flat out on the pitch after that momentous effort at the riverside when we played against Boro and the Ref will live with me for a long time. Good luck Romain thanks!!
John Ruddy - Birmingham, free
What a stalwart Big John was, ever dependable part of our promotion winning side, anyone who was around that day will never ever forget the penalty panto at Cardiff. John was always there he was the point of consistency that stayed when the influx of Portuguese keepers started and probably should have been given an opportunity to play more in the premier league but we went and signed an established international keeper and then replaced Patricio with another keeper.It seems that there was some talk of him staying but judging by his testimony on youtube it seems that the changing of the guard that we had seen had already started to be planned by the club- and so inevitably it has been a parting of the ways
Ki-Jana Hoever - PSV, loan
I think Ki-Jana was the first casualty in our side from upsetting Bruno, he seems to be a young man who doesn’t apply pressure to himself and gives the impression that he doesn’t want to work for his place- he was part of the deal which saw Jota go to Liverpool and it’s looking more and more likely that we got the weaker part in the arrangement. He has since gone on loan to PSV Eindhoven where he has yet to demonstrate his worth and already has promoted criticism publicly from his new coach. This young man needs to reinvent himself before his career slips gently past him.
Ryan Giles - Middlesbrough, loan
Ryan has been out on loan a number of times and Bruno has had him back to look at him, we have sent him out further on loan at Middlesbrough where he is already being labelled as the best wingback in the Championship. This is great for his development but I am not really sure we are ever going to see him in a Wolves shirt for a sustained period of play, frustrating but again if he attracts some attention that he can leave us for some sort of fee, I guess the academy is proving to be doing the right things.
Bendeguz Bolla - Grasshoppers, loan
I am fully expecting this lad to be brought into the team in January window and have his loan terminated, he has played well when I have watched him for the Hungarian national team, and in some of the games I have seen that he has played for grasshoppers, until then let’s hope his continued loan there aids his development.
Dion Sanderson - Birmingham, loan
Similarly to Ryan Giles, Dion has been back and forward between loans and Wolves and I think he has played well at all of his loan clubs. Bruno was complimentary about his ability when he was training with the first team, but he then went out on loan, we are short potentially at CB if we get injuries and he could come back in the window in January if needed – but again at some point these young men need to be playing first team football for their own careers and move on if not to be utilised at Wolves, this time is fast approaching!!!
Willy Boly - Nottingham Forest, £4.65m
Oh Big Willy, it pains me tonight to be writing this regarding you leaving, somewhat a cult hero – the goal at Besiktas – our very own “the Wall” you had the opportunity to probably depart the club with heartfelt wishes and thanks. Instead you decided to draw things into the mire, you refused to work, you didn’t even have the balls to tell the club you were not willing to play you just didn’t turn up, you have ruined and stained my opinion of you – your just another Henri Camara- Good riddance
The other of young professionals loaned out this window were:-
Lewis Richards – Harrogate, loan
Taylor Perry – Cheltenham, loan
Nigel Lonwijk – Plymouth, loan
Joe O’Shaughnessy – Bradford, loan
Luke Cundle – Swansea, loan
Christian Marques – Forest Green, loan
There were also a number of young professionals released from the club these were:-
Pascal Estrada – released
Raphael Nya – released
Jamie Pardington – released
Faisu Sangare – released
INCOMINGS
Matheus Nunes - Sporting Lisbon, £42.2m
Well what can I say, at a time when tempers were getting fraught, The management team delivered. I have been critical in the past of the management team in that I do not think they have backed the new manager with the right funding at the right times. I am prepared to eat humble pie and admit that this signing was the icing on the cake, a top quality international attacking midfielder who has courted the best clubs in Europe. He is playing in our midfield alongside Ruben Neves , now just stop reading for a while and have a little pause and think about that!!!
Ok have I got you back ? yes exciting, Nunes has shown some glimpses of quality that I think once the team gets its identity and pattern will start to flourish , I would of course rather this to happen sooner than later as there is some mild concern that some if this is taking too long to put together as a squad
Goncalo Guedes - Valencia, undisclosed
Another quality addition to the team, maybe the single best transaction the club has undertaken, a guy who can get the ball at his feet turn and run, he has pace, good ball control and judging by all those best bits videos on YouTube can hit a decent effort from range. He has played reasonably well so far in his few games here this season. Another one Bruno hopes will start to flourish and give us that pace and fluidity in attack we desperately need
Hwang Hee-chan - RB Leipzig, £10m
Hwang, has had an unfortunate start to the season, the club announced quite early they were going to make his move permanent, and sadly things haven’t gone quite right for Hee-chan since the start of the season. This has attracted some criticism and I think there has been a general mood swell to offload the player, however this hasn’t happened , and I think as fans all we can do is get behind the lad and try and get him back to where he is. I am not a subscriber to this vogue of dismissal that exists in society today, he is our player, we have invested in him let’s try and make him confident to unlock his potential, it can only help us moving forward.
Leon Chiwome - AFC Wimbledon, undisclosed
Young player who has joined us from Wimbledon , only 16 of English and Zimbabwean descent – has played three games for the u21s scoring two goals, obviously a talent we have spotted let’s see how he develops!
Dom Plank - Dorking Wanderers, free
Another young player to develop I have to confess I don’t know too much about Dom, other than he is a midfielder and he has made one appearance for the club so far.
Nathan Collins - Burnley, £20.5m
Nathan Collins has fitted into our back four like a hand to a glove, he has already gone on to prove in the first few games this season how much of a player he is, forming a very good partnership with Kilman. I am looking for him to also put us into some good opportunities from set pieces moving forward as he has the height and heading prowess to do so. It is quite apparent how steady our back four looks already with this addition, some pointed fingers at him for losing Harry Kane in the movement up to the Spurs goal we conceded – it should be pointed out if we had stopped the flick on at the near post Kane movement – whilst exceptional would have been irrelevant!!.
Sasa Kalajdzic - Stuttgart, £15.5m
I have watched the same videos you have this guy is big, that’s great, he looks good with the ball at his feet, that’s great, what we now have to do is put together a pattern of play and style that utilises these strengths. I am not sure if Bruno intends to play two up front as a 4-4-2 or play a single striker. What I would say if we continue to produce 20 step overs and not cross the ball and play it back to Kilman and Collins to reset as we have been doing this guy isn’t going to add any more value than Raul currently is!! I am however excited to see him play and his first day at Wolves showed him to be an incredibly polite and switched-on young man.
Boubacar Traore - Metz to Wolves, loan
I have been watching a lot of videos of this player prior to him arriving as his arrival has been mooted for some time. I have been discussing the player with Metz supporters and have asked them for comparison player and the nearest player most of them say is Abdoulaye Doucoure. This does seem like a suitable replacement for Dendoncker maybe with a bit more bite and I think possibly a better conversion rate of attempts at goal.
THE WINDOW OVERALL
I think in summing up this has to be the strongest transfer window that Wolves have had under Fosun and possibly during the 50 years that I have been supporting the Club, I can’t think of any other window where I have been so excited . It has been mentioned – the Geoff Thomas/ Kevin Keen / John de Wolf era , but I think this eclipses that by a long way!
I am generally excited by the window and what the board have achieved and would place on record my humble apologies to both Scott Sellars and Jeff Shi – as I have been pretty scathing of their efforts to recruit previously- thanks guys you have well and truly filled my pipe with my words, and I am prepared to smoke them.
We have recruited some quality individuals and also received I think some outstanding remittance for them, which has allowed some great re-investment and effectively we go into the rest of the season with a different identity to grow into!
It’s now over to Bruno, there can be no hiding – you have Mister – I think got what you have been asking for, now it’s up for you to deliver, but you have put doubts in my mind that you can. I will be backing the team and looking forward to you showing me otherwise.
My window rating a big Fat 9 out of 10 – the signing of a centre half would have made it a 10
Boa sorte!
ARTICLE BY CHRIS HUMPHRIES
Chris Humphries is a Season Ticket holder at Molineux who has been supporting Wolves since the mid 70’s. His other interests include Formula 1 and Rallying.