Wolves defender Jonny Castro Otto is set to be announced as a new PAOK player – and journalist Liam Keen has shed some light on the move.
The Spaniard is departing Molineux after he was involved in a training ground incident that resulted in him getting banished from the first-team.
Jonny has not been selected for matchday squads by Gary O’Neil, and has not been in first-team training.
The club put a ban in place for him until the end of January, giving them time to facilitate his exit.
That exit will be official soon, and Express & Star journalist Liam Keen has been speaking about why the player is moving to PAOK for free…
Wolves had ‘next to nothing’ in terms of permanent transfer offers for Jonny Castro Otto
In recent days, there were claims that Jonny was going to move to PAOK for free, which came as a surprise.
Jonny has a contract with Wolves until the summer of 2025, making him a saleable asset, albeit not a huge one.
But Wolves are now allowing Jonny to move for nothing, and Keen has stated on the latest E&S podcast that there just simply wasn’t any interest in Jonny.
He said: “Jonny is obviously under contract at Wolves until 2025. The reality is, in terms of concrete interest from clubs in purchasing Jonny and spending money on him, is next to nothing. Wolves cannot get him out for love nor money.
“The clear option that is now becoming available to him, if the player chooses to take it would be to go to PAOK.”
On it being a free move, Keen added: “It would be to go on a free, It wouldn’t be Wolves cancelling his contract. It would be Wolves allowing him to go for nothing basically. Because if Wolves cancel his contract they’d have to pay him out.
“The proposal that is there now at the moment is that Jonny would agree to go to PAOK, he will sign a contract there, he will no longer be a Wolves player, he will be on considerably less wages. But Wolves will still continue to pay part of those wages, and top them up basically as an incentive for him to leave. In the long term they would save money because they’re not paying his Premier League wages and he’s no longer at the club.”
Keen was speaking yesterday and since then, Fabrizio Romano has claimed that a deal has now been agreed for Jonny to sign for PAOK.
Journalist Giannis Chorianopoulos has reported that Jonny is now a free agent ahead of his move to the Greek giants.
Interesting claims about Jonny
So it would seem that Wolves did not feel confident about any other clubs coming in for Jonny in the final days of the window and are therefore cutting their losses.
It is probably not that much of a surprise that no clubs have come in with suitable permanent offers for him, because he’s had two big knee injuries and hasn’t been a regular for Wolves for some time. And of course, the training ground incident is probably offputting for some.
So Wolves are shipping Jonny out for nothing, which is a sad end for a once top player.
It remains to be seen if details come out regarding Wolves topping up his wages at PAOK, as Keen suggested could happen.