Shropshire Star

Sporting director Matt Hobbs sends message over Wolves transfer plans

Sporting director Matt Hobbs says Wolves will not rush into making signings this month.

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The club are targeting a new striker after allowing Sasa Kalajdzic and Fabio Silva to leave on loan, and have West Ham's Danny Ings and Paris Saint-Germain's Hugo Ekitike among a number of options they are considering.

However, with the club still being cautious of the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules, Hobbs says they will bide their time in the window.

He said: “We’ve been looking for a while, but the market is restricted, there’s not a lot of business going on and not a lot of players available. You’re not going to take a player from a team’s starting eleven as nobody wants to make themselves weaker.

“Also, if you look at the amount of minutes Sasa and Fabio have played between them, we’re not looking to replace lots of minutes, so there’s not an immediate rush. While we do want to bring someone in, they’ve got to be the right person, but it’s not easy when we’re trying to find the best players clubs aren’t using.

“There’s no rush. As big clubs will spend money, other players become available. You don’t want to move too early and better players become available later in the window. We need to find the right person to add to our squad moving forward.

“Our net is very small because three or four other Premier League clubs are also looking for a centre forward and you’re taking them from someone’s bench or from an unknown market, hoping they adapt quickly to the Premier League.”

Wolves must turn a big profit in the current financial year, which ends in April, to adhere to the rules.

With other clubs falling foul of them and being hit with big penalties and in Everton's case, a points deduction, Wolves are adamant they will not break the rules.

Hobbs said: “We’ve had a really good start to the season, Gary, the staff and players have done an unbelievable job, and if we can support Gary in the market we will, but we’re trying to be a self-sustainable club.

“We dealt with the most pressing profit and sustainability issues during the summer in a positive and proactive way, so while Gary knows we’ll support him if we can, we’re also not going to put ourselves in any danger whatsoever.

“If players have gone out on loan, we can look to replace them, but they’ve got to be better than what we’ve got. The boys have done unbelievably well, and we have some talented young players coming through who want more minutes off the bench, but if we can improve what we’ve got, and help Gary and the squad be more competitive, then we will, within the financial position.

“Let’s focus on the players we’ve have in the building. Gary has spoken about developing the players that are here and I think all of them have improved under him, and that will continue to be the case. A lot of the time solutions lie within, but if we can help, we of course will.”