Wolves have this morning officially announced that striker Sasa Kalajdzic has left the club to join Eintracht Frankfurt on loan.
The 26-year-old has returned to the Bundesliga for the remainder of the 2023/24 season, and is hoping to get regular minutes under his belt with Euro 2024 taking place in the summer.
It was reported earlier this week that talks were on between Wolves and Eintracht. He had given the move the green light at the start of week, although it was then suggested that Wanderers would sanction the move once they got a replacement.
Perhaps the club have someone in their sights, with Danny Ings being linked with a move to Molineux.
But Kalajdzic is now gone, and sporting director Matt Hobbs has been speaking about the club’s decision…
Matt Hobbs says ‘the human side’ came into decision to loan out Sasa Kalajdzic now
Kalajdzic now returns to a league he found success in as a Stuttgart player.
Before his £15 million move to Molineux, the star had hit 24 goals in 60 games, and he will hope to find form quickly over in Germany.
Gary O’Neil had initially said that Kalajdzic would not be able to make a move before Wolves signed a replacement, but the club have ultimately decided to act quickly and now sporting director Matt Hobbs has explained the reasons for that.
He told the club’s official website: “The human side comes into it because Sasa’s wife is due to give birth later this month, so if he was going to go out, it felt the right thing to do, to not delay and let them get settled with housing and hospitals, for example, ready for the birth of their child.
“He’s a great guy around the place. He’s frustrated, but he trains hard every day with a smile on his face. When that happens, and Sasa has the Euros and the baby coming up, delaying while we look for a replacement wouldn’t have been fair.”
New striker surely coming in
So Kalajdzic has departed on loan, following in the footsteps of Fabio Silva.
In the end, this perhaps wasn’t too much of a surprise because Kalajdzic just wasn’t fancied by O’Neil – this was clear from his 157 minutes of game time in the Premier League.
It’s interesting to hear Hobbs explain that Wolves sanctioned the move because it wouldn’t have been fair to the player to keep him while looking for a replacement.
Surely, this means they are confident of landing a new number nine this month.