Last summer, Willy Boly left Wolves after five seasons at Molineux.
The centre-back departed the club, with Nottingham Forest signing the Ivory Coast international on deadline day. The fee reported was around £2.2 million.
Boly was the final senior outgoing at Wolves, and followed fellow centre-backs Conor Coady ad Romain Saiss out the door.
The 32-year-old’s exit from the club was a little messy in the end.
Former Wolves manager Bruno Lage said after the game with Newcastle United that he had actually been picked for the matchday squad. But he never showed up at Molineux, seemingly to force through his move to Forest.
Days later he got the move he wanted.
It slightly tainted his reputation for some. But there are Wolves fans who still hold Boly in high regard for all his contributions down the years.
So far for Forest, Boly has made 12 appearances for his new club. Eight of those have come in the Premier League.
It took him a little while to break into the starting XI. But Boly has been pretty impressive when he has played.
Respected football statistics website WhoScored actually have Boly as the sixth-highest rated centre-back in the Premier League so far this season, with an average score of 7.24.
Ben Mee is top with 7.47. The it’s Benoit Badiashile (7.45), Ethan Pinnock (7.43) Wolves’ very own Max Kilman (7.38) and Fabian Schar (7.24).
Boly was a colossus in the game against Leeds United recently, and a lot of Forest fans have been loving what they’ve been seeing from him.
But unfortunately, as Wolves fans know is likely to happen, Boly has picked up another injury. He was forced off early on against Fulham at the weekend.
He’s already had a couple of other injury problems this season, and that is the reason Wolves were right to offload him.
Wolves’ decision to get rid of Willy Boly vindicated, despite impressive performances for Nottingham Forest
There is no doubt about Boly’s quality. He is a very capable Premier League centre-back.
But sadly, his injury record is very bad.
The fact he’s already had a few issues since signing for Forest really does suggest it was the right time for Wanderers to sell.
He hadn’t featured much for Wolves in his last two seasons at Molineux. And it looks like the correct decision was taken on him.
It is such a shame Boly is an injury-prone player. When he plays, he tends to be solid. It must be extremely frustrating for him constantly being in the treatment room.