Wolves may have dodged a bullet in their pursuit to sign one player this summer who instead joined their Premier League rivals.
Wolves have been punished for their decision not to sign a centre-back to replace Max Kilman, who joined West Ham for £40 million in the summer.
Kilman was Gary O’Neil’s captain and his availability last term was faultless, playing in every single minute of the Premier League, a feat only matched by one other outfield player – William Saliba.
Matt Hobbs has been made to pay for his comments on not needing a centre-back after selling Kilman, with the Wanderers struck down by injury and poor defensive displays.
Wolves have lost Yerson Mosquera to a season-ending MCL and ACL injury while centre-back partner Toti Gomes has looked ‘clumsy’ in most matches.
Supporters have been left to curse the club’s decision not to sign a new senior defender, especially after conceding 21 goals in seven games, but they may have dodged a bullet by not landing one of their targets.
Wolves summer target Dara O’Shea criticised by national media
In a last ditch attempt to sign a new centre-back, Wolves were in for West Brom defender Dara O’Shea.
However, they were unwilling to pay the £15 million asking price and he instead joined Ipswich Town.
While he’s performed relatively well for the newly-promoted side, despite them yet to win a game this season, O’Shea was lambasted by the Irish media for his latest display in the Republic of Ireland’s 2-1 win against Finland.
RTE handed him a 5/10 match rating and cited his lack of pace being a cause for ‘concern’. They wrote: “Very busy in the first half. O’Shea was targeted by Topi Keskinen who had him beaten for pace and threatened to bully him early on, but O’Shea recovered well and while his lack of pace was always a concern, his positional play improved and he wasn’t caught out as much.
“As Ireland improved in the second half, so the pressure lessened on O’Shea.”
Balls rated him an even lower 4.5/10 and similarly commented on his lack of speed being a problem: “Struggled to deal with the pace of the Keskinnen down the right of the Irish defence, with the Finn managing to get in behind on several occasions in the first half. Finland began to target O’Shea here as the game went on.
“Though he recovered well, most of Finland’s threatening attacks continued to come down O’Shea’s side deep into the second half.”
Dara O’Shea would have exposed Wolves lack of pace even more
The need for Wolves to sign a centre-back is more pressing than ever with just Craig Dawson, Toti and Santi Bueno as fit senior options.
That said, while signing O’Shea would have helped with depth, the above comments suggest his presence in the Wanderers’ defence wouldn’t have altered the outcome of their matches so far.
Without the athleticism and speed of Mosquera, O’Neil’s men have been exposed by their lack of pace in defence and O’Shea would have arguably made that issue worse, not better.
Wolves needed to sign a high-quality Premier League defender with the physical attributes they currently crave and for £15 million, the Irishman wasn’t worth paying the money.