Wolves squad of the century: The midfielders

From veterans with already-distinguished careers to young talents who broke through in gold and black, plenty of top players have graced Molineux.

But who would make the ultimate squad from those who have played at Wolves since January 1, 2000? Well, with lockdown leaving plenty of us looking for stuff to do, we gave Wolves fans a bit of homework and asked them to come up with a 23-man World Cup-style squad.

In keeping with a World Cup format, there were just two rules. Firstly, they had to name three goalkeepers, and secondly the squad had to have balance and cover in case of injury or suspension.

In total, 67 Wolves fans came back with their squads, so let’s go through the results – today being the midfielders.

Midfielders: Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, Matt Jarvis, Adama Traore, Paul Ince, Bakary Sako, Michael Kightly, Alex Rae

Portuguese pass-masters Neves and Moutinho have put in some spell-binding performances for Wolves over the past couple of years, and – as you probably expected – they both made it into all of the submitted squads.

Neves’s series of stunning long-range strikes – his volley against Derby the standout – have summed up the sheer quality on display during the Nuno era, while Moutinho’s eye for a pass has been above anything else we have seen before at Molineux.

But as well as being blessed with top central midfielders, Wolves have had some wonderful wingers during this century – Jarvis the most popular, with 58 votes.

He shone as the Championship was won in 2009 and is the last Wolves player to have earned an England cap.

Fellow wideman Traore – the scourge of defences across the Premier League this term – received 54 votes.

Ince, one of the veterans who proved invaluable under Dave Jones, got 45, as did Sako – who got fans on their feet during the League One triumph in 2014.

Rounding off the midfield choices are right-sided supremo Kightly (39) and tough-tackling midfielder Rae (27).

Missing out, although they got into double figures, were Leander Dendoncker (19), Karl Henry (18), Kevin McDonald (17), Dave Edwards (11), Nenad Milijas (11), Helder Costa (10) and Colin Cameron (10).

Seol Ki-Kyeon and Adelene Guedioura, meanwhile, got a single vote each.