Left for £0, now worth £28.8m: Wolves will surely rue call on "unreal" PL star - opinion

Wolverhampton Wanderers have gone under the radar when it comes to astute signings in recent times.

It’s easy to overlook the fact that their last five arrivals, including loans, have all been signed for under £10m. It’s even more impressive that four of those are consistent first-team players, with Yerson Mosquera the only exception, although he has made one appearance for Bruno Lage’s first-team and would surely have more were it not for a long-term hamstring injury.

Nevertheless, their business over the past year has been nothing short of sensational, especially in today’s market, which is why it comes as even more of a shock that Wolves once failed to acquire the permanent signing of Emiliano Martinez, who is now a Premier League regular elsewhere in the Midlands at Aston Villa.

Back in the 2015/16 season, the Argentine played for the Old Gold amid a loop of loan moves and fringe appearances, although his initial opening months at Wolverhampton Wanderers sought to end that pattern.

In 2015, Martinez made 13 appearances for Wolves in the Championship and despite only keeping four clean sheets, he conjured up a rather impressive 71% save percentage. For context, in his breakout season for Aston Villa in 2020/21, his save percentage was 77%, so for that time in his career it was a very impressive metric.

Ultimately it was the thigh injury that kept him out of contention for several months which cost both Martinez and Wolves the chance to work together long-term.

On one hand, you can understand the caution that Wolves expressed, as the ‘keeper was unable to regain his starting place after the injury. However, with the underlying stats that he displayed throughout those 13 appearances for the Old Gold, it remains a