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Breaking news21 Jun 202624 views

Wolves Are Sitting On 253 Million — In The Second Division

Season run-in round-up: the game's second-fattest bank balance is stuck a tier too low under a brand-new boss, Serie A's runners-up are bleeding 14 million, and 23 clubs swapped managers in just five days

Written by

Sarah

Soccerverse Times' transfer & markets reporter — a southerner with breaking-news instincts who checks the deal before she shouts it.

Wolves Are Sitting On 253 Million — In The Second Division

Right, gather round, because the season's nearly done — Season 3 shuts up shop on July 4, which is thirteen days from now — and the boardrooms have gone properly mad. In five days flat, across England, Spain, Germany and Italy alone, I count 23 clubs handed the keys to a new manager and 321 players putting pen to paper on extensions. The treatment tables are full, the cards are flying, and the money is sitting in all the wrong places. Here's the round-up.

The richest club in the wrong league

Start with the headline announcement, because it's a beauty. Wolverhampton have a new manager — Romjuzj, appointed Saturday evening and now locked into the dugout. Fine. Except Wolverhampton are the second-richest club in the entire game, with 253.3M SVC in the bank — and they're parked in ENG Division 2, sitting fourth, form reading DDDWWL.

Let that sink in. Only Dortmund (259.56M SVC) have a bigger war chest, and they're a top-flight side. Wolves are hoarding a quarter of a billion in the second tier on a squad valued at just 73.4M and a wage bill of 1.4M. That is the definition of a promotion war chest gathering dust. New boss Romjuzj has the means; now he needs the table to match.

Contrast that with Milano Blue, who are doing it the other way round entirely. They're second in ITA Division 1 — genuine title chasers — with a glittering 357.1M SVC squad rated 85 on average, passing at 93. And they are 14.18M SVC in the red, the deepest hole in the whole game, paying a 7.0M wage bill that averages 281.5K a head. Living the dream and the nightmare at the same time. They aren't alone in the danger zone: Cornella de Llobregat (-9.35M), Rivadavia (-5.07M), Caserta (-3.68M) and Belo Horizonte Black (-3.56M) round out the poorhouse, while São Paulo Green (209.58M), Braintree (197.69M) and Lens (179.19M) sit fat and happy behind the big two.

The manager merry-go-round

Romjuzj's move at Wolves is just the marquee name on a frantic week of musical chairs. Spain led the churn with nine new bosses — Torrejón de Ardoz (NwaloD), Baleares (whizqy) and more — and over at Lepe, Floki simply resigned. England managed seven, with Swindon S so chaotic they changed boss twice. Italy chipped in five: Reggina, Ascoli, Crema and Adria all turned over, and at Campobasso, Raygen walked in minutes after SVCommander walked out.

It's the classic end-of-season reshuffle — owners rolling the dice before the rollover resets the board.

The injury ward

Somebody had to cop the worst of it, and this time it's Jack Lenehan of Biggleswade. The 27-year-old winger picked up a major injury that rules him out for around 113 days — he's not due back until October 11, deep into next season. Brutal timing.

The rest is a steady drip of medium knocks: Milan Badelj (Kaiserslautern) out 50 days, Joshua King (Ibiza) 55 days, Denzel Kuijpers (Scarborough) 56 days, and Velbert's Malík Deme facing 58 on the sidelines. Milano Blue's Piotr Zieliński got off light with a trivial 19-day strain — though his club's bigger problem this week was discipline, with both Roberto Barbosa and Filip Đuričić collecting suspensions. And that's before the 200-plus trivial niggles that peppered the four leagues in five days. Squad depth is about to earn its money.

Squad business: routine, with two raids

Most of those 321 renewals were pure housekeeping — 315 of them standard two-season deals. Only a handful committed long: Weymouth (Mihajlo Milosavić) and Bradford locked players in for four years, Villaviciosa did two four-year deals, Toledo's Ali Berk İnci signed for four, and Huddersfield tied down Pere García for three. Sevilla Red quietly renewed a cluster, Valentín Barco among them.

The real money, though, came out of England. Bournemouth raided Argentine side Lanús twice in one swoop — Nahuel Losada for 14.37M SVC and Brian Luciatti for 11.98M — a combined 26.4M SVC out the door. Over in Spain, Girona splashed 11.64M on Jordy Clasie from Alkmaar.

Thirteen days to go. Lock your squads, find your bosses, and pray the physio's phone stops ringing.

Related Topics

Breaking newsWolverhamptonMilano BlueDortmundJack LenehanMilan BadeljRomjuzjHamBurglerFC

In the tables

BRA Division 1

BRA · Division 0 · Season 3

#ClubPGDPts
1BotafogoTiger2337+4676
2FlamengoRivaldoGaucho37+2874
3CruzeiroGlinho37+1766
4São Paulo GreenMrParaguayo37+1964
5SalvadorFlipex37+1762
6São Paulo BlackMasi37+2259
7Porto Alegre Bluexayagaming37+1455
8LaranjeirasSam937+755
9Belo Horizonte Blackamandacax37+351
10Curitiba GreenReydeAmerica37+150
11Porto Alegre Redgabrielfrankk37048
12Vasco da Gama37048
13Vitoria SalvadorJaguares37-448
14Caxias do Sul GreenPavRu37-542
15Recife LeaoCrister37-742
16Belo Horizonte GreenY337-1531
17FortalezaMartinLasarte37-2130
18Bragança PaulistaAncient37-3430
19AvaiAlberto37-4228
20GoiasAlvaroSz1137-4623

ITA Division 1

ITA · Division 0 · Season 3

#ClubPGDPts
1NapoliNickx37+3474
2Milano BlueHamBurglerFC37+1668
3Firenzelooplab37+1966
4Lazio999Wrld37+1958
5RomaGreenFuryx337+157
6Milano RedSalvadorIglesiasJr37+1456
7BergamoAllancole1234537+454
8Torino WhiteManagerElite37+653
9Bolognagreenboy37+849
10LeccoLecco37-248
11Torino RedSotera37-846
12ComoTass37-946
13Monzabenito37-541
14Sassuoloxlonefoxx37-1041
15Genova RedAui37-840
16CatanzaroUnAndalu37-1640
17ParmaImpact37-939
18H VeronaSanx37-1339
19EmpoliUniversecontrol37-1939
20La Speziapez37-2227

League standings for the clubs in this story.

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