Wolves will look to reinvest Max Kilman fee whilst also deciding new club captain from the 2024/25 season
As Wolves have began this transfer window with no waiting around their most recent sale was of their club captain, defender Max Kilman. After reflecting on the deal it’s now up to boss Gary O’Neil to choose a new skipper, to lead the club forward into the new campaign.
Category
🥇
SportTranscript
00:00Charlie, let's start with Wolves and obviously a huge outgoing for them in this summer transfer
00:09window. Max Killman, the club captain, leaving to join his former Wolves manager in Julian
00:16Lopetegui at West Ham. I mean, it's quite an interesting situation. £40m, it seemed
00:22an offer that Wolves couldn't really reject, even though he is a crucial part of O'Neill's
00:28side. What's your take and how can Wolves respond? Because it does sort of leave a hole
00:37in that centre-back position. Obviously, you've got Totti, you've got Jürgen Mosquera possibly
00:41coming back, Craig Dawson, you don't really know what his situation is. Certainly, they
00:45might have to reinvest that into another centre-half. Yeah, I think that money will have to be spent,
00:51at least a big chunk of it, on a new centre-back because Killman was so important.
00:55Hardly missing a minute for Wolves last season, of course, the club captain as well and
00:59so crucial in Gary O'Neill's system, having him playing out from the back and being so confident
01:03and also from set-pieces being a real threat as well, both defensively and in an attacking sense.
01:08So, it's definitely going to leave a big void in the central of defence. Jürgen Mosquera,
01:14I think it'll be an interesting one, whether he can come back from his Villarreal loan and
01:18get kick-started again, if he's going to move on permanently. There's been a lot of talk that
01:21he could go to Villarreal permanently. I think that O'Neill will probably want to take a better
01:26look at him though in pre-season and assess whether he can be in his first-team plans,
01:30because he's a decent player, he's got a lot of potential, still young, still quite raw.
01:34Is he ready to step up and fill that role of Killman? I'm not too sure, but just to be in
01:39the squad could be pretty useful. It just depends on his own situation. And then some potential
01:43replacements that have been spoken about. Jake Clark-Salter from Queen's Park Rangers,
01:49it's quite a lot of competition for him. A few Premier League clubs, Crystal Palace looking at
01:53him, Ipswich Town as well. I think Burnley have been looking at him. He's a decent player as well.
01:58He's not played in the Premier League though, and it's someone who he's not going to experience
02:03potentially at the top level. Is he going to be able to step into that role immediately?
02:06I'm not too sure, but he's looked decent for QPR.
02:10Yeah, and obviously it leaves the big question, who becomes club captain? Obviously, it's not a
02:16question that you have to address so often, but now this is a situation that Gary O'Neill will
02:21have to take on board and discuss. Who do you think are the main candidates for that role in this wolf
02:27side? I think Craig Dawson would be a pretty obvious option, given his experience and his
02:33leadership qualities. It's just the question mark is how many games is he going to be playing and
02:37can you be relying on him as the main captain choice? Or could you have a split captain,
02:41so you're having a vice but playing more regularly? I'm not too sure, but in that case,
02:45you might as well just cut your corner and go for someone who will be playing every week. For me,
02:49Mario Lamina, playing in whatever position Gary O'Neill wants him, I think he's perfect
02:54for that captaincy. It'll be interesting to see whether he gets it, but I think he deserves to.