Louie Moulden has signed a new contract with Wolves, and goalkeeper coach Tony Roberts has explained why he was recalled from his loan spell with Solihull Moors.
Moulden has penned a one-year extension at Molineux. It is something he recently said he had been hoping for.
Moulden came to Wolves, having previously come through the academy systems at both Liverpool and Manchester City.
So far he’s yet to make an appearance for the first-team. But he’s now had a couple of loan spells with Ebbsfleet United and Solihull Moors.
Moulden arrived back at Compton Park earlier last month, and has since been turning out for James Collins’ U21s.
Essentially, he has taken the place of Jackson Smith, who joined Walsall on loan last week.
Wolves made the announcement about Moulden’s contract extension earlier today, and featured some quotes from first-team goalkeeper coach Roberts about the decision to bring him back.
He explained: “Part of the plan for their development is to get game time on loan. Louie did well last year and got exposure to decision making processes when dealing with crosses, through balls and, importantly, men’s football.
“He did very well at Ebbsfleet and Solihull. But I wanted him to come back and have a taste of Julen and the way he works.
“He’s had two decent loans, so he’s now understanding the role of what he needs to do day in day out, week in week out.
“Julen was a goalkeeper and he’s always walking over to the sessions, looking and offering his opinion, which is what we want.”
Louie Moulden recall decision makes sense for Wolves, as Tony Roberts shares reasoning after youngster signs new contract
Moulden coming back to Wolves makes sense and it seems as though Roberts has played a part in the decision, as he is the one explaining it.
Moulden has been out on loan a couple of times now, which is good for his experience.
But it’s also important that he spends time working with first-teamers.
He will learn a lot doing drills with Jose Sa and new signing Dan Bentley, and as Roberts points out, Lopetegui was also a goalkeeper in his playing days.
Lopetegui clearly works closely with Roberts, so Moulden will be interacting with the Spaniard. And, again, that will be helpful in terms of his development and understanding of senior football.
Ultimately, he will want to be playing for the Wolves first-team one day. So right now, it’s about shaping him for when that time potentially comes.