Former Wolves player Lee Naylor has praised the club’s signing of Craig Dawson earlier this year.
Wanderers finished the 2022/23 season in 13th place, following a very rocky first two-thirds of the campaign.
Wolves seriously struggled under Bruno Lage, and the Portuguese was eventually relieved of his duties at the start October.
His tactics were poor and he also appeared to have lost a lot of players in the dressing room.
But Lage was also not particularly helped by the fact he lost several leaders and experienced players.
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Conor Coady, Willy Boly, John Ruddy, Romain Saiss, Fernando Marcal and Leander Dendoncker had all departed.
That would end up having a really big negative impact.
But in January, Wolves addressed this issue.
The club moved for Dawson, who they tried to sign in the summer.
He arrived at Molineux for a fee of around £3.3 million – and the Englishman made an instant impact.
Julen Lopetegui threw him straight into the team alongside Max Kilman, and Dawson’s authority really helped tighten things up at the back.
He seemingly improved those around him, and in the end his signing was key in helping Wolves to survive.
Speaking on the Wolves Weekly podcast, former Molineux full-back Foley praised the decision to bring him in.
He said: “He was an amazing signing. I thought it was a great signing. Even though I thought (Nathan) Collins started the season really good, I thought he was a bit unlucky. But looking back it was the right decision.
“But it was the right decision. Dawson came in and he was an amazing signing. Especially for the money we got him at. His experience, filling to void of Coady.”
The comments come after Andy Thompson also hailed the signing of Dawson recently.
Craig Dawson changed the picture for Wolves – he is one of the most important signings the club has made in years
The decision to bring Dawson to Molineux in January might have been what saved Wolves from relegation this season.
He really did have a seismic impact at the back.
It was clear that, while Collins and Kilman had potential as a pairing, the backline just needed that authoritative figute.
It needed someone with a lot of Premier League experienced and someone who is just a pure, solid defender.
Dawson brought the grit and the leadership that was so desperately needed.
Without him, Wolves could very easily have gone down, which makes him one of the most important signings in the club’s recent history.