Wolverhampton Wanderers legend Steve Bull has given the club’s permanent signing of wing back Jonny Castro Otto a big thumbs up.
The Spanish international was on loan at Molineux from Atletico Madrid, however, the club secured his future last month by clinching a permanent deal for the 24-year-old.
Bull is delighted: “Wolves paid £15million to get him in on a four-and-a-half-year deal, and that is a smart piece of business,” he wrote in his Express & Star column. “It was a no-brainer.
“I had my reservations when Barry Douglas was sold and replaced by him in the summer, but he has settled in seamlessly at left-wing-back despite being right-footed. On the face of it, it is a lot of money to be paying for someone – but it is pretty much the going rate these days for a quality player, £15m is what £2m or £3m was 10-15 years ago.”
OPINION
Bull is bang on the money, here. Nuno essentially got rid of Douglas to bring in Jonny this summer, and that raised a lot of eyebrows after the season the now-Leeds United man had at Molienux last time out. It’s proved to be a remarkable bit of business, though. Jonny has been magnificent this season, providing a solid presence on the left hand side of the pitch. He can match Matt Doherty on the other side going forward, while probably being a better defender than the long-time Wolves man. Yes, it is a decent sum of money. But, as Bull says, it’s just what you have to pay these days. A squad player seems to cost at least £10million, so £15million for a starting player isn’t too bad relatively speaking. At 24 years of age Jonny has plenty of time to improve and get better in the years to come so this was a smart bit of business to secure his future.