The Athletic’s Wolves reporter Tim Spiers has revealed that the club decided to cash in on Diogo Jota having felt he had ‘hit a ceiling’.
The winger departed Molineux last summer for Liverpool, which came fairly out of the blue.
Reports of interest arrived and a deal was wrapped up around a day later, with Ki-Jana Hoever arriving in the Black Country at the same time.
According to BBC Sport, the Jota sale was worth £41 million, rising to £45 million with add-ons.
But according to Spiers, Wolves will actually only be receiving a snippet of the total, with the rest to come in regular instalments.
Asked about recruitment, he wrote for The Athletic: “Nuno has the final say on recruitment. No player joins without his approval.
“The pandemic certainly played a part in the budget (roughly £80 million spent but a net spend of breaking even, albeit Wolves will receive only £4 million from Diogo Jota’s sale to Liverpool this season with the rest to follow in instalments).”
Spiers added that Jota was allowed to be sold because the club felt he had ‘hit a ceiling’.
Jota’s move to Anfield has been somewhat uncomfortable viewing so far, with the 24-year-old scoring nine goals in 17 games before picking up an injury.
Jota deal structure makes January incomings unlikely
Time will tell if the sale of Jota will ome back to bite Wolves.
The early signs are that Jota could well flourish at Liverpool, but that doesn’t mean the decision wasn’t right to cash in when Wolves did.
That the club will only get £4 million this season is a bit of a frustration as it will likely mean no additions this January, but at least there will be a steady incoming during a tricky financial period for all clubs.