The way Wolves ended the summer transfer window really frustrated a lot of fans, and Jeff Shi has now spoken about the club not landing a new midfielder.
Wolves’ summer business and the recruitment strategy the club employed has been questioned by supporters, with many feeling that the squad is now a lot weaker compared to last season.
This was always going to be a big summer for Wolves.
Because key players were going to leave. Matheus Cunha’s exit had been on the cards for months, and Rayan Ait-Nouri also had a fair chance of departing, given he’d been at the club for quite a few years.
Then, a number of players’ contracts were expiring, again pointing to more exits.
But there were far more exits than most fans thought there would be.
Tommy Doyle and Boubacar Traore were both allowed to leave on loan, and that pointed to Wolves signing a new midfielder.
It was claimed Pereira really wanted another option before the window closed.
Josh Brownhill was linked with Wolves, but was ultimately said not to be keen on a move, and Hayden Hackney of Middlesbrough was also mentioned.
However, he didn’t get his wish – and now executive chairman Jeff Shi has explained what went down at the end of the window.
Jeff Shi explains why Wolves didn’t sign a new midfielder
Wolves have just four options to play in central midfield at the moment.
Joao Gomes and Andre are the nailed-on starters. And then there is support from Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Marshall Munetsi.
There was huge clamour from the fans across the final days of the window for the club to get a new player for the engine room. But by early afternoon on transfer deadline day, all hopes of seeing this potential signing be made were dashed.
And Jeff Shi has now explained why Wolves didn’t end up signing a new midfielder.
In a new interview with the club’s in-house media team, he said: “For midfield, of course we talked a lot.
“The only part, if we were very lucky in the window we could have signed one.
“But this part, maybe we missed a little bit of luck in the window it’s not only about us. Also, Vitor has high demands on the quality of the midfielder.
“Its not like we sign someone for the sake of that.
“We have coverage for that position. We signed (Ladislav) Krejci, there is coverage. For the decision about midfield in the last two or three days, I spoke with Vitor a lot, almost every hour. Eventually, it was a mutual decision to maybe not sign one more midfielder. But we try to find the potential from the squad to cover that.”
Shi and Vitor Pereira have taken a huge risk
It’s unlikely that Shi’s remarks here about not signing a new midfielder will go down very well.
Yes, there are a lot of factors at play when it comes to signing new players, and this was never solely about Wolves. They probably encountered some difficulties.
| Wolves new signings |
| Fer Lopez (£19m) |
| Jhon Arias (£19m) |
| David Moller Wolfe (£10m) |
| Jackson Tchatchoua (£10m) |
| Ladislav Krejci (£6m loan fee, £20m option) |
| Tolu Arokodare (£24m) |
But the thing many will take issue with here is how much time Wolves have had to get cover for this position.
Tommy Doyle’s move to Birmingham was confirmed on July 15.
Boubacar Traore then joined FC Metz on loan on July 24.
Wolves have had well over a month to get someone in, so this is just not going to wash. Shi and Pereira have taken a huge gamble – one injury to Andre or Joao Gomes and Wolves will be bang in trouble.