The Athletic’s Wolverhampton Wanderers correspondent Tim Spiers has recently aired some criticism of the Portuguese full-back Nelson Semedo.
During the summer transfer window, the Old Gold sealed the arrival of the defender from Barcelona in a deal that could be worth a whopping £37m (per BBC).
Since he arrived at the club, Semedo has made nine league appearances for Wolves in which he has neither scored nor assisted a goal (per WhoScored).
In the Old Gold’s recent 4-0 defeat against Liverpool, the Portuguese defender scored an own goal and earned a weak 5.75/10 performance rating.
In the latest episode of The Athletic’s The Molineux View podcast, Spiers discussed Semedo and criticised him following the defeat against the Reds.
He said: “His stats are pretty good, his stats compare favourably with [Matt] Doherty compared to last year in terms of what he does in a game – his interceptions, his tackles, his duels won. Getting forward he’s not bad, either. It’s only in the air where he’s noticeably very much weaker than Doherty because he’s not going to win many in the air.
“So, his stats are okay, but his concentration levels don’t look great to me and we were warned about this when Wolves signed him.
“I don’t think he looks anything like a £37m player, which is what Wolves can end up paying for him, but he’s still getting used to the Premier League. He’s still getting used to the teammates around him.”
TIF Thoughts on Tim Spiers’ criticism of Nelson Semedo…
As can be seen in what the journalist had to say, while the full-back does well statistically, Spiers believes that it is his level of concentration which is the major issue.
Has Nelson Semedo looked like a £37m defender since he signed for Wolves?
No, Spiers is correct
Yes, he's a class player
Certainly, with 2.0 tackles – the second-best of any player still in Wolves’ squad – and 1.2 interceptions – the fourth-best in the squad – per league match (per WhoScored), it is clear to see what Spiers means about Semedo’s statistics.
However, despite what the journalist had to say, the 27-year-old defender has still been Wolves’ third-best performer in the Premier League this season with a 6.97/10 average rating.
So, perhaps Spiers was being overly harsh on the £31.5m-rated full-back.