Wolves comment: Leander Dendoncker needs to stick to midfield role
Former Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo had his buzzwords, and ‘versatility’ was one of them.
If a player could play in several different positions, they were deemed extremely useful.
In the case of Leander Dendoncker, though, you could very much argue the 26-year-old’s flexibility has done him more harm than good.
From a manager’s point of view, having someone who can operate as both a central midfielder and centre-half is, of course, appealing.
But for the Belgian’s sake, you do hope the incoming Bruno Lage commits to one role for him – and sticks with it throughout next season. After all, a confident Dendoncker could prove influential.
There is untapped potential with him, and as he enters what should be his peak years, hopefully, it is realised.
Last season was a difficult one for him, as it was for most in gold and black.
Those clever runs from midfield towards the box were still there, but his efforts on goal sorely lacked any conviction.
He still covered plenty of ground, but not quite with the vigour of previous years.
Overall, Dendoncker seemed to be short on confidence and needs to rediscover himself as a midfielder – his true position, for this writer at least.
Yes, his ability to slot into defence in the event of an injury has helped Wolves out of some holes, and he always did well enough in a back three with his calmness on the ball and aerial prowess.
But having flitted between two roles – and even for his country at times – the lines have been blurred a bit too much.
That energetic, slightly-unorthodox but ever-so-effective midfielder from the 2018/19 and 19/20 seasons can return, as long as he just has that role.
There might be a rare occasion where Dendoncker has to make that shift into the backline once again – perhaps if there has been a sending off and all the substitutes have already been made – but a prolonged run in the middle of the park could get him back on the right track.
We all know that Wolves need to reinforce central midfield in this window, and there are no guarantees over Dendoncker’s place in the team.
Hopefully, though, more competition can also be of benefit and he raises his game, because he is a player worth persevering with.
If he does not perform well enough as a central midfielder in 2021/22, it is a situation Wolves can look at later down the line.
But Dendoncker deserves that chance to return to his best.
