Wolves to splash cash wisely
Sporting director Kevin Thelwell is eyeing a vital summer in the transfer market for Wolves – with Raul Jimenez set to be the first new face to join the Premier League assault.
Thelwell said he was hopeful the club’s hierarchy could repeat last season’s success in terms of recruitment.
Talks are believed to have progressed significantly with Mexico international striker Jimenez, 27, who is on the verge of joining on a season-long loan from Benfica – with the option of a £30million permanent deal.
Thelwell told the Express & Star of the summer ahead: “Everybody thinks that because you’ve got more money to spend it’s a lot easier, but of course it isn’t.
“You can easily spend a lot and not improve the team, so it’s about taking a great deal of pride in what’s happened but now getting down to the task at hand and making sure we’re fit for purpose for next season.
"We’re really pleased with how recruitment all went last season – but now we turn to a more difficult problem to solve.
“You have to be very careful about who we select and I’ve often said 99 per cent of recruitment is about who you don’t buy.
“What I mean by that is you’re making sure anyone you bring into the building is going to do the business and be in that starting XI, playing 30 to 38 games and helping us in that league.”
Almost all of last summer’s signings were a success for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team.
Thelwell added: “If you look at last summer in particular, in order to create that team cohesion that we wanted in the group, fortunately we managed to get the right blend in terms of a mixture of British and European players and a mixture of ages with experience and expertise.
“You had the ones who were already in the building like Helder Costa, Ivan Cavaleiro and Romain Saiss who knew what it was all about and the boys who were coming new into it.
“The summer was a great window for us, helped massively by the fact Nuno was very clear with what he wanted the team to look like.
“We were able to pull that together pretty quickly. Then in January Benik Afobe came at a time when we needed reinforcements and his goals were important.”
More than 500 general sale season tickets were sold yesterday. There are 1,129 left with priority given to fans with the most loyalty points.
