Wolves set to sign Iwelumo
Chris Iwelumo will become Wolves' fourth summer signing when he joins from Charlton in a deal believed to around £400,000.
Chris Iwelumo will become Wolves' fourth summer signing when he joins from Charlton in a deal believed to around £400,000.
The much-travelled striker, who turns 30 on August 1, is at Compton to sign a two-year deal with a 12-month option.
Wolves beat off competition from Charlton's near neighbours Crystal Palace to sign the former Stoke frontman. He follows Sam Vokes, Richard Stearman and David Jones into Molineux this summer.
The arrival of 6ft 4ins Iwelumo brings Wolves' strikeforce up to four of those boss Mick McCarthy wants to keep alongside Vokes, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Andy Keogh.
The signing almost certainly ends the drawn-out pursuit of Peterborough's Aaron Mclean, who Wolves feel is vastly overpriced at initial £3m.
"We've got Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Andy Keogh, Sam Vokes and now Chris Iwelumo and we're trying to get rid of a couple, so we've got four strikers now which is what the manager wants," said chief executive Jez Moxey.
Iwelumo was Charlton's 10-goal top scorer in his only season at The Valley when he was also an ever-present, 14 of those appearances coming off the bench.
Charlton boss Alan Pardew admitted he couldn't keep Iwelumo, who is the second Charlton striker to leave today following Marcus Bent's departure to Cardiff.
"They are two big players who could have been very useful during the season, but financially, we couldn't do it," he said.
Scottish-born Iwelumo, who has also had low key spells in Denmark and Germany, is best known for his prolific partnership with Jamie Cureton at Colchester, where he scored 35 goals in 87 games.
They helped the Us to promotion from League One in 2005-06, and Iwelumo scored 18 League goals in the Championship the following season in another ever-present campaign.
After starting his career at St Mirren, where he played 13 games without scoring, he made his name at Stoke, where he bagged 15 goals in 40 starts.
With Freddy Eastwood completing his exit to Coventry over the weekend for an initial £1.2m, Wolves still have Jay Bothroyd and Stephen Elliott on the transfer list.
Meanwhile, Wolves have had no interest from Blackburn in Kevin Foley despite weekend reports, and are still awaiting offers for transfer-listed midfielder Seyi Olofinjana.
