Transfer window: The verdict

[Guzeppi]

With the close of the transfer window then the most important thing to establish now is who won the battle of the ITKs?

I did.

I wasn't proved wrong. Not even once.

 

[Hawkguy]

I'll tell you if we ever win a game lol

 

[WolfLing]

It would be great to see him lift some silverware as captain. That's the dream however unlikely it might be.

It may happen. Not for a few years though, as he wouldn't be made captain of a new club straight away.

 

[bennymacca]

I would love to have seen this squad have a full pre-season but realistically it was always going to be up to deadline day. We were successful in bringing in Collins and Nunes well ahead of deadline day and I feel like the later moves for Kalajdzic and Boubacar and the departures of MGW, Dendoncker, Boly, Coady, Saiss and Marcal were well planned with evidently a number of fall back positions to protect us.

 

[SilverstoneWolf]

8/10

Positives:
Nunes seems undoubted quality
Unlike many of our recruits of the last few years Guedes on paper has a good goal record (although he's looked somewhat lost so far)
We've actually recruited a striker who might score goals
It's another transfer window in which we've retained our best player in Neves
Neto is still here (and hopefully get find his best form soon)
Collins seems a good buy and has finally given us the chance to get away from the babysitting Coady formation
We've cleared out some of the players who seemed too comfy with no real fire on matchday to win football games and got money in (Boly, Donk)
MGW fee is very nice for a completely unproven player who had only ever offered ineffective flicks and tricks in a Wolves shirt

Negatives:
The main negative is that we didn't get more deals over the line earlier - we've made a real mess of an extremely favourable opening month of fixtures as a result
We've left ourselves a little light at CB
I think we still needed a pacey striker option to play on the last man, as Sasa is an unknown quantity and Jimenez is looking past it
We've actually turned down money to get rid of Hwang
It's more a neutral, as I think he can still offer something here, but the Traore saga has found no conclusion
Another neutral as I hope Boubacar can add some much needed athleticism to the centre of the field, but at 21, I'm not sure how quickly he can contribute, so I am somewhat disappointed that we haven't upgraded Moutinho with a more experienced athletic player there

Now it's over to Lage to use a very good squad to full effect... but I can't say I am optimistic on that front at all...

First negative a bit unfair. Have played ok and not scored. Not the Board's fault that Jimenez & Neto have underperformed in terms of striking, and that Podence, Guedes & Nunes not found shooting boots. Even without the most recent purchases, it was reasonable to think we had enough to cover the first 4 weeks of the season (even if it didn't turn out that way). I would rather we waited and got the ones we wanted rather than 'do business earlier' for players we didn't REALLY want.

 

[JonahWolf]

He's turned out to be a great young reporter. Learning his trade and getting better as time goes by.

He should be after Madeley’s job. He should get it too.

 

[Chris H]

I don’t think it’s been a good window to be honest. Great that we kept the likes of Neves but our squad was threadbare last year and I think it’s worse now.

Ruddy out. No replacement brought in.
Coady, Boly, Marcelle, Saiss, Hoever out and Collins in
Trincao, Gibbs-White, Dendonker out, Nunes, Guedes and Traore in
Silva out and Sasa in

Few fringe players out on loan too. We’re a couple of injuries away from being a very poor bench with few options when needed.

With the greatest of respect, that's a disingenuous way of detailing our squad changes.

Ruddy out Sarkic in
Coady out no longer playing a back 3 so position is redundant arguably
Boly + Saiss out Collins in and I'd argue Toti Gomes was Saiss replacement, just brought in to the squad in January instead due to AFCON
Marcel out he was a Jonny stop gap who is back so no longer required
Hoever out probably could have done with a replacement
Trincao out Guedes in
MGW wasn't in the squad last season to be lost, you cant have both MGW and Trincao as out, neither were in the squad together
Dendoncker out Traore in
Silva out Kalajdzic in

I'd say a better comparison is last summers squad vs this and accounting for change of formation:

After Summer 2021

Sa
Kilman Coady Saiss
Semedo Neves Moutinho RAN
Trincao Jimenez Traore

Ruddy, Boly, Hoever, Marcal, Dendoncker, Cundle, Podence, Hwang, Silva

After Summer 2022

Sa
Semedo Collins Kilman RAN
Nunes Neves Moutinho
Neto Jimenez Guedes

Sarkic, Gomes, Mosquera, Jonny, Traore, Ronan, Podence, Hwang, Traore, Kalajdzic

We're a defender (wingback) shorter but a forward deeper which kind of accounts for the change in formation. I'll grant you we're a CM short too but given we were last year too I don't see how you can possibly say its worse this season than last.

The squad is stronger than last summer, the first XI is stronger than last summer, there are a couple of areas we're short in still similarly to last summer. I think all 3 of those statements are fair and true.

 

[Skrilla]

Assuming we will hopefully stick with the 4-2-3-1, I'd view the depth chart as such:

GK - Sa/Sarkic
RB - Semedo/Jonny
RCB - Collins/Mosquera
LCB - Kilman/Gomes
LB - Ait-Nouri/Jonny/Bueno
CM - Neves/Nunes/Moutinho/Traore
RM - Neto/Traore
LM - Guedes/Hwang
CAM - Podence/Guedes
ST - Kolajdzic/Jimenez

I think we're a little bit stretched at potentially LB and CAM, but there are viable alternatives in the squad. If a LB/RB gets injured, Jonny can cover both sides. If we were to somehow have two injured full backs, then Hugo Bueno is probably our most first team ready youngster in the U23's at the moment, the fact a La Liga side were trying to sign him on loan kind of proves that. I know there are question marks over his fit in a back four, but I do think he's shown he can defend as well from what I've seen of him, he's a big talent.

Guedes has experience playing more centrally, so he can provide depth at the #10 position as well, with Traore or Hwang then starting on the wing.

The only major concern for me would be the lack of experience that Mosquera and Gomes have. An injury to either Collins or Kilman could potentially completely derail our season. The Dawson move falling through was unfortunate for all parties, but I still have a little bit of hope we can get Denayer in today, who can provide versatility and experience.

 

[Streathamwolf]

I don’t think it’s been a good window to be honest. Great that we kept the likes of Neves but our squad was threadbare last year and I think it’s worse now.

Ruddy out. No replacement brought in.
Coady, Boly, Marcelle, Saiss, Hoever out and Collins in
Trincao, Gibbs-White, Dendonker out, Nunes, Guedes and Traore in
Silva out and Sasa in

Few fringe players out on loan too. We’re a couple of injuries away from being a very poor bench with few options when needed.

Laughable you are scraping the barrel to misrepresent this window.

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

I wonder what the back story was with Adama during the window. Amazed no one would offer 8-10 mil for him.

There probably was some interest but I imagine his wage demands are too high now. With the knowledge he can leave for free in a few months he knows he’s in line for a) whacking big signing on fee b) a big wage in lieu of saving his new club millions in transfer fee. He’s basically on a 7 month holiday now

 

[Streathamwolf]

Assuming we will hopefully stick with the 4-2-3-1, I'd view the depth chart as such:

GK - Sa/Sarkic
RB - Semedo/Jonny
RCB - Collins/Mosquera
LCB - Kilman/Gomes
LB - Ait-Nouri/Jonny/Bueno
CM - Neves/Nunes/Moutinho/Traore
RM - Neto/Traore
LM - Guedes/Hwang
CAM - Podence/Guedes
ST - Kolajdzic/Jimenez

I think we're a little bit stretched at potentially LB and CAM, but there are viable alternatives in the squad. If a LB/RB gets injured, Jonny can cover both sides. If we were to somehow have two injured full backs, then Hugo Bueno is probably our most first team ready youngster in the U23's at the moment, the fact a La Liga side were trying to sign him on loan kind of proves that. I know there are question marks over his fit in a back four, but I do think he's shown he can defend as well from what I've seen of him, he's a big talent.

Guedes has experience playing more centrally, so he can provide depth at the #10 position as well, with Traore or Hwang then starting on the wing.

The only major concern for me would be the lack of experience that Mosquera and Gomes have. An injury to either Collins or Kilman could potentially completely derail our season. The Dawson move falling through was unfortunate for all parties, but I still have a little bit of hope we can get Denayer in today, who can provide versatility and experience.

Good summary, well done.

 

[NJWolves69]

Overall I think it was a good window. Keeping Neves while making 3 first team upgrades with Collins, Guedes, Nunes is something I don't think any of us imagined before the window opened. There is also the reassurance that the money is here to be spent and we've become a little more flexible with the "one in one out" policy. This is a better team on paper than the one that finished last season.

Few questions/negatives though:

- Timing of the moves. Having no striker to start the season was really poor. I think it's a widespread football problem, but our transfer business was done too late in the window

- Depth is going to be tested again. Gomes/Mosquera have potential but we were hours from sending Yerson out on loan, so we clearly don't think he's ready for PL minutes yet. Fullback depth is thin, Jonny doesn't look up to it anymore. I still would have liked one more midfield addition. A few key injuries to this team and it could get ugly.

- I'm going to reserve judgment of Guedes because none of our attackers are playing well, but he hasn't been overly impressive so far. Essentially the same profile of Neto and they occupy the same position. Talented player, just not sure he fits what we needed. If/when our attack starts to look more cohesive, I could be proven wrong.

- Not that I thought Donk was anything special, but I think he had a role to play on this team. Actually thought he was alright to start the season. Did a lot of the defensive cover that Neves/Moutinho physically can't do. Letting him go to Vile and not even making a profit on him feels like an unnecessary move. I've seen people show graphs of B. Traore's metrics and how he has a Kante-esque profile, but the reality is that he's played one season of senior football and I still haven't found anyone who has actually watched him play. He's the fourth midfielder on this team, so he's going to get minutes and France to England is a huge jump for an untested player. We've gotten burned before by these loan to buy deals with talented but raw players (Vitinha, Trincao).

Probably a 7/10 window for me which is still better than expected and better than it has been. No more excuses Bruno.

 

[Oldskooldayz]

8/10 some real quality has come in but still not got a full "premier" league squad in imo! Definant encouraging signs though that fosun are interested I investing again

 

[justanotherwolf]

Still hard to understand the odd poster complaining that we didn't do our business earlier. Frustrating that there is so much naivety about the transfer window. We couldn't do it earlier, that's the way the transfer window works. We could have concluded our business a good few weeks ago, but if we had we would have had to sign players other than Nunes, Guedes, Kalajdzic and Traore. You have to wait for players to be available, clubs to be ready to sell, players to understand their options and fees to be negotiated under brinkmanship as the clock ticks on.

That's true but it all comes down to choices/decisions. In reality we won't know if they were good ones until the end of the season.

I tried to give a fair summary in the OP, in that the business on paper is exactly what people have been calling for, but it has taken a while (whether or not due to factors outside the club's control), which isn't ideal any year and particularly not when trying to execute such a large overhaul. Bruno has already said that doing business late means that he'll need until November to get the group where he wants them, then there's the world cup!

For example it was widely reported that we were in for Enzo Fernandez but pulled out to wait for Nunes. Enzo went to Benfica before the season started and we got our man in the end. Presumably a factor was that Nunes already speaks fluent English (and Portuguese!) so the settling-in period is likely to be less. Good choice? We'll find out...

Similarly there's a wide consensus that Sasa was one of a number of targets for a striker and we expected to get one in a lot earlier having sanctioned Fabio's loan early on. Both player and former club seem to have been co-operative and open to the transfer so we can infer that the delay is mainly based on us waiting for another target that didn't materialise. Looks like it all worked out well in the end but we sure could've done with a striker earlier...

What I would say is those cautioning to wait until the end of the window to judge whether Fosun are willing to invest in the squad rather than panic at the lack of signings when the season started have been shown right on that score.

 

[wwbug]

We are definitely a New Wolves .
Saiss Boly Coady gone in a flash .

 

[Darvo]

Great backing from Fosun.

Hopefully, the new boys will start to show what they’re made of sooner rather later.

 

[Andywolf74]

Fair play to Fosun for backing the Manager. Time to really see what sort of manager Bruno will be for us, as he’s got a squad assembled much more to his liking. It would however still be sensible for the owners to keep an eye on the ever evolving managerial world, in order to have a back up plan in case things don’t work out with Bruno.
At least on Wednesday we were creating decent chances near the end of the game, one of which would have normally been a goal. One of my biggest frustrations in recent times, has been our inability to create anything more than a half chance at best.

 

[Stratman Wolves]

I give it a 8/10. Fantastic, but it seems like it was a bit of a panic. Reminds me of the Zenga window where everyone and their mother was signed in a whirlwind. I am content, but I hope Fosun don't neglect the squad again for another 3 years.

 

[Brixton Wanderer]

Nuno randomly bombed him midway through the year

Believe what you want, I’m not *****.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Believe what you want, I’m not *****.

Facts are the facts

 

[SuperGran]

Transfer windows ain’t what they used to be

 

[Arthur]

The latest video on the club's Youtube channel is incredible.

I love behind the scenes videos as you get to see the actual process of signing a new player.

But this last video on a new deadline day signing abroad, in premises that arent ours, is even better

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Transfer windows ain’t what they used to be

View attachment 29978

Looks like is holding it, and coupled with the look on his face that is utterly terrifying

 

[Brixton Wanderer]

Facts are the facts

Hahahaha!

 

[SuperGran]

Johnny Phillips: Wolves’ dealings are a real statement of intent
interesting summary from Johnny Phillips

 

[Dingle Chris]

Well I said we’d left ourselves short and it appears we have. We now still don’t have a fit striker. Going into the season with a busted Jiminez and our new injury prone striker has already proved to be a big mistake.

 

[Ian C]

Sasa Kalajdzic — Stuttgart, £15.4million - broken
Matheus Nunes — Sporting Lisbon, £42million - looking OK, likely to improve
Goncalo Guedes — Valencia, £27.5million - pointless thus far
Nathan Collins — Burnley, £20.5million - looks decent
Boubakar Traore - Metz, loan (€11m to buy) - TBC

How‘s that.…?

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Sasa Kalajdzic — Stuttgart, £15.4million - broken
Matheus Nunes — Sporting Lisbon, £42million - looking OK, likely to improve
Goncalo Guedes — Valencia, £27.5million - pointless thus far
Nathan Collins — Burnley, £20.5million - looks decent
Boubakar Traore - Metz, loan (€11m to buy) - TBC

How‘s that.…?

Standard fare for you.

I.e utter ****e

 

[OLDGOLD]

Well I said we’d left ourselves short and it appears we have. We now still don’t have a fit striker. Going into the season with a busted Jiminez and our new injury prone striker has already proved to be a big mistake.

Great. Can you give me next week's lottery numbers please?

 

[Dingle Chris]

Great. Can you give me next week's lottery numbers please?

It was hardly great foresight more highly likely. Jimenez is no longer a player we can rely on so basically we had one striker, a guy with a poor injury record and guess what he’s injured.

 

[Dingle Chris]

Can we now just agree the window was pretty poor and once again has left the squad completely unprepared for a premier league season.

 

[NewarkWolf]

Can we now just agree the window was pretty poor and once again has left the squad completely unprepared for a premier league season.

I'm not sure why we were so worried about losing neves.

 

[Dingle Chris]

Not enough experience cover now in the squad (which was bad before).

Any injury to a first team player and we are playing kids , the centre back scenario is madness and a disaster waiting to happen.

Couldn’t have agreed more. Unfortunately some got a bit carried away.

 

[Hoganstolemywife]

Can we now just agree the window was pretty poor and once again has left the squad completely unprepared for a premier league season.

I think the window was absolutely solid

We are just managed by a lemon who has no ****ing idea how to utilise these players

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

Silva shouldn’t have been let go

Coady shoulsnt have been let go on loan. Fair enough with a fee and a replacement but not on loan

 

[DanishWolf]

I think the window was absolutely solid

We are just managed by a lemon who has no ****ing idea how to utilise these players

Agree about Lage. Can't imagine anyone doing worse with this squad.
But it was rather criminal to have no proper backup in defence and another striker, knowing Sasa was injury prone and Raul struggling

 

[Loefah]

Couldn’t have agreed more. Unfortunately some got a bit carried away.

Look at how many people were laughing at that poster for saying that. Got it spot on tbf.