The January transfer window will be an interesting time for Wolves, with no clear sign of who could be coming through the door at Molineux.
Rob Edwards has already sat down with Jeff Shi and other Wolves officials to thrash out a transfer plan ahead of January, and he seems relatively pleased with it.
But the main issue Wolves are going to have is attracting players to join a club heading for the Championship. Which might make loan deals the direction the club heads are heading in.
You could argue that just about every position on the pitch needs strengthening, but one area that seems to be in focus is the goalkeeping department.
Christos Mandas has been linked with a move to Molineux, but that may mean that Jose Sa has to depart due to a non-homegrown rule.
Who is the one player you want Wolves to sign in the January transfer window? 🤑
Surely Dwight McNeil has to be up there… 🤔
The state of Wolves’ finances ahead of the January transfer window
Football Finance Expert Adam Williams has been talking to Molineux News about the January transfer window.
Here is his overview of what Fosun will be taking into consideration.
“When you’re assessing how much a club can spend in any given window, you need to look at the headroom under PSR, the actual cash available, and – most importantly – the strategy that the club is pursuing.
“In terms of PSR, Wolves are okay in the current assessment period, which runs until 30 June.
“You’re allowed to lose up to £105m over a rolling three-year period, with adjustments for the women’s team, community spending, academy investment and so on.
“They made a loss in 2023-24, the last financial year for which we’ve got the full accounts. When you add back the allowable investment, that will swing back to a profit for PSR purposes.
Wolves’ value decreases by the day… how much are they worth now?📉
“In 2024-25, they will have got slightly less TV money, but they will probably not be too far off a break-even point again because of the Kilman and Neto sales, both of which were near enough pure profit.
“So they went into 2025-26 with acres of headroom under PSR and, because they more or less spent what they earned in the summer, they will have maintained a pretty huge margin for error. Even accounting for a likely drop in matchday income, they will be fine.
“Some of the reporting I’ve seen on this is wide of the mark, in my view. In the Championship, their PSR limit would drop to about £83m. Even then, they should be fine, assuming they have the right clauses in player contracts that reduce their wages post-relegation. Clearly, there would be some player sales too.”
How much money do Wolves have to spend in January?
Fosun previously put money (£214m) into the club to fund investment in players and underwrite losses, but now that they think relegation is a foregone conclusion, they aren’t investing.
Adam Williams went on to touch on exactly how much Wolves have to spend in January.
“In terms of the actual cash available, they had £31m in the bank at the last accounting date. They had net transfer payables – that is, transfer instalments owed offset against those due from other clubs – of about £70m, which isn’t bad by Premier League standards.
“They’ve also rolled over a £100m loan, but we don’t know the terms of that. They are still cash-negative, i.e., they spend more than they earn, but I don’t think there is anything necessarily stopping them from spending in January. Because they have quite low transfer debt, they have the capacity to ramp that up.
Why did it take Fosun so long to come to a Jeff Shi realisation?😡
“However, I just don’t see Fosun doing that. They have provided £214m in funding since they took over Wolves, but that has slowed down significantly in recent seasons. And given that they are virtually relegated already, there is a high risk of diminishing returns if they do invest in January.
“They will be doing a risk-reward calculation, and it’s skewing very heavily in one direction at the moment. I think it’s far more likely that January will be about preparing for the Championship. If they can get more value for a player now than they might in the summer, they’ll probably do it.”
Receive a digest of our best Wolverhampton Wanderers content each week direct to your mailbox
Join the fan conversation
