Wolves today made a surprise swoop by signing Leicester central defender Richard Stearman on a four-year deal.
The 20-year-old 6ft 2ins Wolverhampton-born stopper, who was Leicester’s Player of the Year last season, has joined the club for an undisclosed fee having a year left on his contract.
See also: Stearman’s career in pictures.
Villa had also been one of several Premier League clubs interested in the highly-rated defender, but Wolves have stolen a march on their rivals to re-stock their depleted central defence.
Stearman, who moved away from the city at the age of five, becomes Wolves’ second arrival of the summer following Bournemouth striker Sam Vokes.
Boss Mick McCarthy was desperate to shore up his back line after losing captain Gary Breen and transfer-listing Darren Ward.
And the arrival of the highly-rated Stearman will fill the gap.
Despite his tender years, Stearman has already made 116 League appearances after making his debut against Cardiff in October 2004.
Emerging as one of the brightest young defensive talents in the country, Stearman has been in Stuart Pearce’s England under-21s squad.
But his potential came to the national selectors much earlier having been capped at under-17, 18s and 19s level.
Stearman said: “I was on holiday when I got the call from my agent to say Wolves were interested.
“It’s happened in the last two weeks so it’s pretty much under the radar.
“There’s been reported interest for a while but I’m really looking forward to working with the gaffer, particularly as he was a former defender himself.
“Wolves are a massive club who probably should be in the Premier League.
“There’s a massive fan base here who are expectant of Premier League football and if if that brings pressure and expectation then rightly so.
“It’s such a big club with sizeable crowds and the fans want Premier League football as do all the players.
“Hopefully with myself coming in with others we can help get Wolves where they deserve to be.
“I spoke to Jamie (Clapham) on the way here and he had nothing but good things to say which only added to my excitement.”
Leicester chief executive Lee Hoos said: “Richard’s representatives weren’t interested in discussing new terms.”
70 Comments
Excellent addition
he wasnt on my radar -
and Wolves werent on his radar?
any other radar readings anywhere?
Great signing keep em coming!
Anthony Gardner from Spurs alongside this guy would round things off very nicely thank you. We could land Gardner for no more than a million, depending on wages though I suppose - he’s still only 27, good on the ball and has lots of top flight and international experience and he also comes from Stafford! Sounds like a dream duo to take us into the prem.
Great Business for Wolves. Really needed that signing and I know Leicester were relegated but he shone last season for them in an otherwise poor season for Leicester.
This is from a Leicester fan on the Leicester Mercury website - let’s hope it’s just sour grapes…
“Brilliant..Sweet revenge for selling us Carl Cort,use the money to buy a decent player.Stearman is the worst up and coming prospect we have produced in years..”
after very quickly reading his professional profile and what the leicester fans say about him then this looks like a stunning addition to the squad.
Capped at almost every england level, player of the year, bought for “very little” (I heard £250k from a mate who’s a leicester fan) and he is in stuart pearce’s good books, which can’t be a bad thing for a defender. let’s keep these signings coming.
Well done Mick and very well done Mr Moxey.
This is a great signing. I guess the clue that we might be interested is in the MM comment a bit back that you don’t need to be that old to be experienced! 116 league appearances at his tender age is quite something.
Let’s have another to join him at the back!
A couple of more signings (or recovery from long term injuries) could see us in position to mount a real challenge this year.
Re 6 CrispyWolf…
I reckon sour grapes. He was their player of the season and He’s been capped at every level up to U21 for England.
I’ve seen him play for England before and he looked good.
Shame they are so hurt over Cort!
i have it on good authority that Villa were very close to making a move for him in the Jan window.
I think its a Tony the Tiger signing “Greeeaaaat”
I spoke to a Leicester fan two months ago who was predicting this guy would go to a Prem side, he rated him highly, not the finished article but very very promising. No slouch, good in the air, has quite a bit of experience, on the down side he said he can be guilty of switching off and not reading the game that well, but hey he is only a kid.
Looks an excellent signing, maybe mick does know what he is doing after all!!???
All the best.
Good signing Wulfies.
Signing Footballers is like nights out, the best ones are always the ones you didn’t plan for.
Great signing and in the problem area (even in the first season craddock and breen were suspect against pace) can’t say I know too much about him but you don’t get voted player of the year by fans and players and pundits alike, also capped at england levels if your no good. Would like to see little in and around the squad he has shone in a wolves shirt before now and performed well at northampton on loan playing nigh on 30 games so at CB. So our CB options are stearman, craddock, little that looks sound to me those 3. Just a creative midfielder and 1 more striker with the transfer listed ones going and using our own good youngsters a bit more I will be looking forward to next year.
11) Anything’s better than Collins!
Leicester were the second best defence last season and believe it or not we were fourth. A lot of that was obviously down to Hennessey.
Great signing. Villa have been tracking him for sometime!
“probably should be in the Premier league” interesting thoughts!
Dont know that much about him but it seems to be a great signing and i am pleased MM is looking at our defence.Still would like to see a couple more
but if we can get our injured boys of the table and back on the pitch then i am sure we will have a great new season
Looking forward to next season as i am sure we will be up there
COME ON YOU WOLVES
At last MM is finally getting round to the defence which lets be honest let us down last season; good work Mick now may be a play maker for midfield and another defender to join him please.
nice one MM get sum more defenders and some mid player’s and we are on our way! lol no.12.
Barmy Army!!!
Need some old heads to look after the very young boys Got to get a strong man in mid field if SO goes
Great news well done MM about time we got round to the defence which after all let us down last season. If we could have another defender please and a play maker in midfield that would be brill.
gets better and better!
booked my train trip to wrexham last night (we play them in preseason for those who dont know lol) hopefully along with vokes and stearman we will have some new faces!!
got a feeling we will make a big signing soon, no i dont mean someone who is 7ft. so with oli looking he’s going and the fee we will likely fetch between 2.5m-3m and with d.jones looking like he’ll sign bet we aint even spent the inpending oli money!!!
This is a great signing it seems.
A little too late for last year but better late than never
From what I read, he has spent most of his time at Leicester as a right back. Their fans seem to think he could comfortably play at centre back though. (Played there when in the academy.)
He is a Wolves supporter too! (could of swung the deal)
My Leics fan mate is stunned he hasnt left for a Premiership team.
Brilliant addition.
@4
not gardner, he’s crap, over rated and over paid (like a lot of wolves players…)
well if the 1.6m fee is correct cant see us after berra now
At last an area where we are weak , and not another striker , might make a diffrence
25. well said
Young and cheap and definately ” in our price range “.
But at least a defender at last, though it remains to be seen where in the back line he will be told to play.
Great Signing - Well done Mick, hope the manager gets the credit he deserves instead of all the stupid ‘muppet’ comments that are so depressingly voiced by so called supporters.
PLEASE GET BERRA IN 2 PARTNER HIM NEXT SEASON!
Looks like a quality addition!
Excitement building each day
Bring on August 9th
MM is building a very exciting squad of players, he’ll let Oli go (part of past failures) and will surprise us further with his signings. All of the moaners who continually make Wolves supporters the subject of derision from other camps; prepare to eat (Barnsley’s special) humble pie. The talking’s over, MM’s had his two year settling in period, our owner has taken stock. This is our season!
Great signing for us i think boys well done mm an jez
19 Tho quote from stan cullis “if they are good enough they are old enough” so think less about the age of the lad but the experience he has at such a young age!
im in shock, kinda makes you think our scouts are pretty good. Just keep up with these kind of signings and we will be sorted!!
Bring on next season!!
I just want to make a quick observation to a number of critical Wolves fans and a few Albion fans….. of all the players leaving Wolves, the one that a lot of teams are interested in is Seyi ‘George’ Olofinjana.
Here are the interested parties-
Celtic, Bolton, Wigan, Hull and possibly WBA
To summise then. He can’t be as bad as people were saying!
Great!! It looks a good signing, at last a defender. Perhaps it will now bring on Salmon as well!!
This proves yhat Mick knows what he is doing.
great addition to the team/squad but lets not stop there still need another defender,2 midfielders,1 striker & 1 or 2 season long loans.
Anyone else think we should give George a go at centre-back alongside this fella.
Then play Foley on the right and Little on the left.
I remember seeing him play there for the youth team and he looked quite comfortable.
At last things are starting to look-up. Give credit where it’s due, this is one of the best signings we have made for a long while.
More to come? Proper winger cover and a fast, strong midfielder please.
one things for sure we’ve got the BEST LOOKING SQUAD IN THE WORLD!! lol
Sorry to say guys you are going to be very disappointed. I’m an LCFC season ticket holder and although a fans favourite his footballing ability is lacking as you will find out. Milan says thanks for the cash, he’s pocketing most of it.
credit where it’s due to mm and jez did’nt see it coming so it shows thre working behind the scenes in the areas we all thought they were neglecting, still need a mid field genral herd gravason might be tempted so in mm and jez i trust.note any more news about gerrard from walsall looks promising
‘Surprise’ signing…all the better for that. I’d rather read news than speculation!
E & S is a NEWSpaper I believe
30 how the hell do you know that its a great signing, some of you idiots said the same about
D Ward, and he is a really great signing, you cant give him away. Never mind you still kept hold of S Ward.
Baggy 1 if you have read my comments before you will know i have very good communications at the boggies, im afraid that this has the potential to be a massive signing and im sure he cant be no worse that leon barnett. As for you lot i know that you are taking too much time to make your signings and have already missed out on several targets, one to a bundersliga side who would apparantly have joined but you dillied and dallied and lost him. What a shame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nice, England u21 it’s upward and onward’ great news.
Baggy 1.
you seem to be in love with S Ward every time you comment on here you have to mention him.
How are your new signings settling in. oh yeah i forget you lot lack that much ambition your not signing anyone.
i jest not.
silence is golden-thats another one we new nothing about! great signing, keep them guessing Mick and keep them coming.
Very good signing. He’s tall quick powerful and has a lot of experience for his age
I work with a LCFC season ticket holder who is not happy about the Stearman sale. Saying that, I wouldn’t be happy being a LCFC season ticket ticket holder!
Sour grapes by Leicester Mercury. Don’t forget we sold them Ade Akinbyi never mind Carl Cort!!!
45 - Better than no signings at all
Great Signing !!
Richard Stearmen aswell .. I thought he was the best defender i saw up the molineux last season .. GREAT STUFF !!
Now we have just got to get in another 2 defenders .. A.GERRARD FROM WALSALL ON A FREE ( BOSMAN FEE APPLYS ) , AND C.BERRA FROM HEARTS !!
Someone to cover the wings i would say get W.HOOLAHAN FROM BLACKPOOL FOR £250K .. BARGAIN !!
We need 2 Centre Midfielders preferably D.JONES FROM DERBY AND A HRAD-MAN IN THE MIDDLE .. T.GRAVESON FROM CELTIC !!
And 1 Striker to help bolster our attack .. get A.MCLEAN FROM PETERBROUGH !!
Fair play to mick and jez for getting this great prospect at molineux ..
THE FUTURE IS LOOKING BRIGHT !!
GET THOSE 6 PLAYERS IN AND WE ARE UP AUTOMATIC THIS SEASON FOR SURE !!
UP THE WOLVES !!
Get Berra alongside and that spells PERFECTION!
Good
Only one word………EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks!
great signing ,and with the backing of us supporters a great season
mm gold and black army
Does this mean that Collins will go? Please say yes!
Id like to say that Mad Mick does know how to
spot a good player,just like TONY MOWBRAY does,
But MICKS problem is ,he never seems to pick the
right team and plays people out of position.
He seems to play a very negative type of game,
and thats the differance between both managers.
McCARTHY concentrates on defending, while
MOWBRAY just goes for it by playing with the
attacking flair.
I reckon if you had a decent manager who played
with style,then you could easily win the league
but as its MICK McCARTHY then I can see you
finishing mid table.
lets see real local lads coming into the club, please.
Get in. Can;t believe we managed to pull this off. he is a good prospect
just read up on him,he appears to be a great addition,hopefully we will get a defensive midfielder to replace oli,i think things are on the up!!surely next season will be the season for automatic promotion?
chris riggott from m’boro would be my choice to join him….he was shipped off to stoke last term and did a good job…2m should do it!! as for the mclean debate…id rather see MM try a cheeky bid for anichebe of everton or campell of utd who was at hull last yr.
Good article, E&S, thanks!
Just one quibble: one 20-year-old fills the gap left by the departures of Gary Breen and Darren Ward?
I’m very happy with this signing!
Still, I would like to point out that, if we lose the players on the transfer list and Lee Collins goes out on loan, our total central defensive squad is now three: Craddock, Neill Collins and Stearman. I sure hope we don’t get a couple of them injured!
But a step forward–and it’s still June!
Mixu Pantyliner (39) wrote: “Anyone else think we should give George a go at centre-back alongside this fella.
Then play Foley on the right and Little on the left.”
I wouldn’t mind Mick trying that. Problem would be that then we would only have Mark Salmon in reserve at wide-back. Maybe try Dan Jones there or buy another wide-back. Neill Collins and Michael Gray can play there in emergency, but Collins inspires even less confidence in that position than at centre-back, and Gray can’t last ninety minutes. However you look at it, without another signing, we’re likely to be stretched in defence.
Centre back was our priority this summer and to sign a 6ft 2″ defender who has played for England U21 and been voted player of the season for a club with a good defensive record all sounds great.
On the other hand he played most of the season at right back and his club were relegated. So lets just wait and see.
I do think another centre back remains our priority. If we do offload Bothroyd, Elliott and Eastwood then we will need another striker. Not too bothered about midfield cause I want this to be the season that Mark Davies is given his chance.
Fair play to you unearthing a local lad. Not enough of that in football by a long, long way!