Soccerverse Times
The Voice of the Virtual Pitch
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.

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
In the tables
BRA Division 1
BRA · Division 0 · Season 3
| # | Club | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BotafogoTiger23 | 37 | 22 | 10 | 5 | 65 | 19 | +46 | 76 |
| 2 | FlamengoRivaldoGaucho | 37 | 20 | 14 | 3 | 47 | 19 | +28 | 74 |
| 3 | CruzeiroGlinho | 37 | 17 | 15 | 5 | 39 | 22 | +17 | 66 |
| 4 | São Paulo GreenMrParaguayo | 37 | 15 | 19 | 3 | 39 | 20 | +19 | 64 |
| 5 | SalvadorFlipex | 37 | 15 | 17 | 5 | 34 | 17 | +17 | 62 |
| 6 | São Paulo BlackMasi | 37 | 16 | 11 | 10 | 43 | 21 | +22 | 59 |
| 7 | Porto Alegre Bluexayagaming | 37 | 13 | 16 | 8 | 40 | 26 | +14 | 55 |
| 8 | LaranjeirasSam9 | 37 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 36 | 29 | +7 | 55 |
| 9 | Belo Horizonte Blackamandacax | 37 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 32 | 29 | +3 | 51 |
| 10 | Curitiba GreenReydeAmerica | 37 | 12 | 14 | 11 | 30 | 29 | +1 | 50 |
| 11 | Porto Alegre Redgabrielfrankk | 37 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 48 |
| 12 | Vasco da Gama | 37 | 11 | 15 | 11 | 28 | 28 | 0 | 48 |
| 13 | Vitoria SalvadorJaguares | 37 | 13 | 9 | 15 | 33 | 37 | -4 | 48 |
| 14 | Caxias do Sul GreenPavRu | 37 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 30 | 35 | -5 | 42 |
| 15 | Recife LeaoCrister | 37 | 9 | 15 | 13 | 23 | 30 | -7 | 42 |
| 16 | Belo Horizonte GreenY3 | 37 | 4 | 19 | 14 | 16 | 31 | -15 | 31 |
| 17 | FortalezaMartinLasarte | 37 | 6 | 12 | 19 | 23 | 44 | -21 | 30 |
| 18 | Bragança PaulistaAncient | 37 | 7 | 9 | 21 | 27 | 61 | -34 | 30 |
| 19 | AvaiAlberto | 37 | 8 | 4 | 25 | 19 | 61 | -42 | 28 |
| 20 | GoiasAlvaroSz11 | 37 | 5 | 8 | 24 | 19 | 65 | -46 | 23 |
ITA Division 1
ITA · Division 0 · Season 3
| # | Club | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NapoliNickx | 37 | 22 | 8 | 7 | 57 | 23 | +34 | 74 |
| 2 | Milano BlueHamBurglerFC | 37 | 20 | 8 | 9 | 43 | 27 | +16 | 68 |
| 3 | Firenzelooplab | 37 | 18 | 12 | 7 | 41 | 22 | +19 | 66 |
| 4 | Lazio999Wrld | 37 | 14 | 16 | 7 | 40 | 21 | +19 | 58 |
| 5 | RomaGreenFuryx3 | 37 | 16 | 9 | 12 | 32 | 31 | +1 | 57 |
| 6 | Milano RedSalvadorIglesiasJr | 37 | 13 | 17 | 7 | 38 | 24 | +14 | 56 |
| 7 | BergamoAllancole12345 | 37 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 29 | 25 | +4 | 54 |
| 8 | Torino WhiteManagerElite | 37 | 13 | 14 | 10 | 28 | 22 | +6 | 53 |
| 9 | Bolognagreenboy | 37 | 11 | 16 | 10 | 34 | 26 | +8 | 49 |
| 10 | LeccoLecco | 37 | 11 | 15 | 11 | 24 | 26 | -2 | 48 |
| 11 | Torino RedSotera | 37 | 12 | 10 | 15 | 28 | 36 | -8 | 46 |
| 12 | ComoTass | 37 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 34 | 43 | -9 | 46 |
| 13 | Monzabenito | 37 | 8 | 17 | 12 | 24 | 29 | -5 | 41 |
| 14 | Sassuoloxlonefoxx | 37 | 10 | 11 | 16 | 24 | 34 | -10 | 41 |
| 15 | Genova RedAui | 37 | 9 | 13 | 15 | 29 | 37 | -8 | 40 |
| 16 | CatanzaroUnAndalu | 37 | 9 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 31 | -16 | 40 |
| 17 | ParmaImpact | 37 | 7 | 18 | 12 | 17 | 26 | -9 | 39 |
| 18 | H VeronaSanx | 37 | 9 | 12 | 16 | 23 | 36 | -13 | 39 |
| 19 | EmpoliUniversecontrol | 37 | 9 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 38 | -19 | 39 |
| 20 | La Speziapez | 37 | 5 | 12 | 20 | 20 | 42 | -22 | 27 |
League standings for the clubs in this story.