Wolves have made some huge sales over the past few years, however one lucrative departure of 2012 remains as one of their biggest exit deals.
Wolverhampton Wanderers have recorded some highly-profitable sales over the years, most notably this summer as the club benefitted from the lucrative departures of Matheus Nunes and Ruben Neves.
The deadline day sale of Nunes handed the Old Gold £53m, while Neves’ farewell to Al-Hilal brought in £47m to help ease the financial constraints at Molineux.
While this summer’s sales of the Portuguese duo topped the charts with reference to Wolves’ most expensive departures, one name stands out in the top ten of the list as a huge sale in the short Stale Solbakken era.
The departure of Steven Fletcher to Sunderland was highly talked about during the summer of 2012, as the Old Gold parted ways with their top scorer of the season prior.
Signed from Burnley in 2010, Fletcher arrived after one season with the Clarets, in which he netted eight Premier League goals during the 2009/10 campaign, his first in the English top-flight.
The Scotsman made a fast impact at Molineux, scoring 12 goals and recording five assists in 33 appearances in his debut year in the Midlands, followed by another high-scoring feat the season after as he netted 12 in the Premier League.
The forward was a highly appreciated member of Mick McCarthy’s squad, with the former boss lauding him as “terrific” and a “valuable asset” to have in his ranks at the club.
Unfortunately for both Wolves and Fletcher, things took a turn for the worst in his second campaign, as the Old Gold were relegated to the Championship, and their sharpshooter handed in a formal transfer request.
In 2012, Wolves sanctioned a move for Fletcher, as Sunderland purchased the striker for £14m, which looked to be good business after his debut 2012/13 campaign, where he netted 11 goals in the Premier League for the Black Cats.
From then on, it looked more and more of a positive deal from the perspective of the Midlands club, as in the three seasons that followed, the forward scored just 12 goals in the league in total, leading to his eventual exit.
In hindsight, Wolves receiving £14m for the former Scotland international’s services was stellar business, as three years down the line, his expected transfer value (xTV) had dropped to just €6.3m (£5.4m), as per Football Transfers.
From then on, Fletcher’s value continued to decline, as did his career pathway as following his Sunderland exit, he never played in the Premier League again.
Today, the forward is valued at just €400k (£350k), and is playing in League Two for Wrexham.
This campaign, the Scotsman has scored two goals in seven appearances, suggesting that he still has his goal-scoring ability in him at the veteran age of 36.
With reference to Wolves’ most expensive sales, the £14m acquired for Fletcher sits at ninth in the pack, signalling just how well orchestrated the sale was after holding out to receive a higher fee for their talisman.