Football News: Wolverhampton Wanderers Transfer Round Up

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Wolverhampton Wanderers Kenny Jackett revolution has become more of an evolution, with the summer window starting off full of excitement for the Wolves fans and ending up seeing them lose a stalwart defender to a rival Championship side. Added to the loss of exciting winger Bakary Sako, Wolves look more like a team consolidating their place in the Championship, rather than one looking to win promotion. For a team that was only recently in the Premier League, the transition has been difficult as the big contracts handed out have hampered the club since relegation from there.

Hampered it badly enough to see the club end up down in League One, so maybe another season of consolidation is not such a bad thing for the Midlands side. With a strong youth policy, aided by young signings with potential, the club's future does look fairly bright, though competing against teams willing to overspend and aided by parachute payments makes things difficult. While it may not be the glory days of the Stan Cullis era, the club is still a long way from where it was in the 1980s.

The trick for Jackett will be to get the team within reach of the play offs, then anything can happen. Wolves certainly have the basis of a young side that has the potential to be competitive in the Prem, if they get there, without needing to completely rip things up and start again, like so many other promoted sides need to do. They look to be a bit short of automatic promotion, so it will be the play offs they are aiming at.

The outs:

Richard Stearman has moved to Championship rivals Fulham for just under £1m. The centre half was a stalwart of the side in recent years, and at 28 should be at his peak right now, but, perversely, it was that which saw the club cash in on him. With a plan to work with young Championship players with the potential to grow into Premier League players, a Championship player at his peak has little potential to raise his game if the sought after promotion is achieved.

Tomasz Kuszczak, English football's most difficult name to spell correctly, has left on a free for Birmingham City.

Aaron Hayden has moved out to Newport County on loan.

Leon Clarke has ended his spell at the club and joined Bury on a free.

Bakary Sako moved on a Bosman free transfer to Premier League Crystal Palace. The Malian wild card winger will be the player that Wolves will most struggle to replace.

Sam Ricketts has moved to Coventry City on a free transfer.

George Swan has gone to League Two York City for free.

Georg Margreitter, the Austrian defender, has headed to the Bundesliga to join 1.FC Nuremberg on a free.

Jake Cassidy has headed to Oldham Athletic, also on a free transfer.

Liam McAlinden has gone on loan to Shrewsbury Town.

Michael Jacobs has joined Wigan Athletic.

Lee Evans has gone on loan to League One Bradford City.

Zeli Ismail, the much hyped 'wunderkind', has headed out on loan Burton Albion. At 21, there must be worries within the club that Ismail will never achieve the potential that saw stories about how he would be the world's first £100m player circulating in newspapers a few years ago. He will need to step up this season and prove he has what it takes.

Now to the ins, which are much fewer than most clubs, other than the obvious exception Arsenal, made in the summer transfer window. Kenny Jackett is aiming to keep a settled squad which he builds on gradually, only time will tell if he gets it right.

Conor Coady was the big signing of the summer, at just under £2m from Huddersfield Town. The youngster was hyped as 'the next Steven Gerrard' while making his way through the Liverpool academy, and he is finally showing signs of fulfilling the potential that saw him captain England youth sides in the past.

Jed Wallace was just over an 8th of the price of Coady, but the new arrival from Portsmouth is highly rated and will hope to settle in quickly to the Championship.

Sylvain Deslandes has come over from France's SM Caen B on a free transfer.

Sheyi Ojo, the highly rated young English winger, has joined on loan from Liverpool. Ojo is being touted as the next big thing in English football, this season is his chance to show that he can live up to the hype he is surrounded with.

Emiliano Martinez, the young Argentinian keeper, has joined on a loan move from Arsenal. So far he has struggled, but it is early days in his career.

Adam Le Fondre has made the move from Cardiff City on loan. The forward will be hoping to revive his career, which has stalled in recent years. Still only 28, he will be hoping that this loan will give him the chance to prove he still has what it takes.

Nathan Byrne has joined from Swindon Town.

Kenny Jackett is building an exciting young side, all of the players brought in, bar Le Fondre, were 23 or younger. It is now up to the club to nurture the young players and allow them to achieve their potential with Wolves. If they can do that, promotion will come in time, it just might be difficult to get back to the Premier League this time around.

Written by Tris Burke September 08 2015 07:44:53