Wolves presenter Dave Azzopardi has been discussing former player Matt Doherty following reports about his future.
According to a report from Football Insider, Wolves are interested in bringing Doherty back to the club, noting that the Old Gold and his current club Tottenham Hotspur “are set to hold talks over a potential permanent deal or a loan with an obligation to buy”, whilst also adding: “Spurs are willing to listen to offers for Doherty after he slipped down the pecking order this term.”
Doherty left Wolves back in the summer of 2020, but has failed to nail down the starting right-back spot, only making 39 appearances since then.
However, speaking on a recent edition of Talking Wolves, Azzopardi claimed that he had received different information about the 29-year-old, adding that the potential deal didn’t make sense because of the options that Wolves boss Bruno Lage has at his disposal.
He said: “As far as I’m aware, with people that I’ve spoken to and people that I trust, as of today – I’m not saying it’s not going to happen – but as of today, there is no truth in the Matt Doherty to Wolves rumours once again.
“You just have to use a little bit of common sense with it, really, as well, that Doc will want to leave Tottenham for more first-team football. Is he going to get it at Wolves? No, because we’ve got Nelson Semedo, who the club paid a big chunk of money for.
“There are whispers that Atletico Madrid might come in for Semedo if Trippier leaves, but I don’t think they will want to pay the money that Wolves will want for Semedo.”
TIF Thoughts on Dave Azzopardi’s comments about Matt Doherty and Wolves…
Have Wolves impressed so far this season?
Yes
No
As Azzopardi suggests, it seems like there are too many variables and too many barriers for the deal to make any realistic sense for Wolves to make it happen – both when it comes to the clubs themselves and when it comes to Doherty’s potential place in the team.
On top of that, it wouldn’t make sense for Wolves to go after him because he is essentially damaged goods at this point. He is currently ranked joint-15th when it comes to tackles per game at Tottenham, 13th in interceptions per game and 15th in clearances, whilst not even registering a blocked shot (stats via WhoScored).
So whilst he may have been an impressive figure the first time around at Wolves – enough to convince Tottenham to part with a reported £14.7m for him – Wolves just wouldn’t be getting the same person back.
In other news: ‘This window really is the big one’ – Presenter drops interesting claim on Wolves ace’s future