Wolves have sold midfielder Seyi Olofinjana to Stoke after the newly-promoted club met their £3m demands, writes Tim Nash.
The 28-year-old is believed to have passed a medical earlier today and has signed a four-year contract to become Stoke’s second summer signing after Dave Kitson.
The deal, which sees the Nigerian international become the club’s biggest sale since Joleon Lescott joined Everton for £5m two years ago, will be seen as a triumph for Wolves’ negotiating powers.
Olofinjana’s exit is the third big money sale to the Premier League in recent years after they prised £3.5m from Wigan for Henri Camara and again illustrates the club’s ability to attract top prices for their
players.
Molineux chief executive Jez Moxey believes the deal suits all parties.
“This is similar to the Joleon Lescott deal in that we had an arrangement with Seyi if we didn’t go up that he would be allowed to join a Premier League club,” said Moxey.
“We’re disappointing that Seyi is moving on, however it’s all part of an arrangement we had when he signed his new contract.
“It’s a situation that’s good for us, the player and Stoke and we wish him all the success.
“He’s 28, he’s a full international and he’s desperate to play in the Premier League.”
He later told the club website: “Whilst we are disappointed to lose him, it’s a good move for Stoke and the player and we have got a very good deal with the fee already reinvested in the likes of Richard Stearman, Sam Vokes, Chris Iwelumo and David Jones who we bought in knowing that Seyi would be leaving us.”
Wolves boss Mick McCarthy paid tribute to Olofinjana, who was 10-goal top scorer in McCarthy’s first season.
“He’s been fantastic to work with - a really good player. I always knew of his desire to play in the Premier League and this is a terrific signing for Stoke and I wish him well.”
McCarthy is not expected to sign a replacement, in the belief he has a strong enough central midfield with new arrival David Jones, Karl Henry, David Edwards and fit-again Mark Davies competing for places.
As reported in the Express & Star back in May, Wolves always believed Olofinjana would be sold to one of the promoted clubs.
Stoke initially denied any interest in the player, but while Hull deliberated over meeting the asking price, Potteries boss Tony Pulis made his move.
111 Comments
Cherrrrrrrio. :L
I have never rated one in six George from the day we signed him and for me was one of the biggest disappointments of last season. Good riddance.
Stoke!!! OK, big boys then. Why? I know there is no guarantee we’ll go up - we are Wolves after all, but it’s pretty certain it’ll be a relegation struggle at Stoke. Money talks. Sill move Oly, silly. But money talks.
Best of luck to him, top player
See you next season Seyi, if we don’t go up!
3 million not a bad deal lets get a good centre back (Berra)and centre midfielder with premier experience (carsley would have been ideal)
come on the wolves!
Lets get behind the lads ftom match 1 and get a good start and hope to be top 3 by christmas!
Couldnt agree more, good riddance totally overated.
STOKE CITY!!! Oh dear, expect a swift return Oli… Nevermind we will wave to you when we get promoted this season!!
Question to Moxey,,, What are you going to do with the money??
He has obviously moved for the money because stoke will be relegated by Christmas, so personally I’m glad he’s going because now he has shown his true colours, cheerio George, don’t let the door hit you on the way out
Again praise has got to go to Moxey for commanding a good fee for a distinctly average player
2.5million is brilliant for an average player now go spend the lot on a Big Impact Centre Back and ill fancy our chances for promotion.
Thank God .. For £3m Great Value .. We Just Need Someone To Come In Now And Take His Position !!
Look At Some Of These Mick It Should Give You A Good Idea:
We Need 2 Central Defenders:
A.GERRARD 22 CB WALSALL FREE ( BOSMAN FEE APPLYS )
** CRACKING PLAYER AND ON A FREE .. GET HIM IN NOW **
D.LIVESEY 23 CB CARLISLE £650K
N.EARDLEY 19 RB/CB OLDHAM £750K
L.CHAMBERS 22 CB NOT FOR £650K
M.BEEVERS 18 CB SHEF WED £2.25M
E.WARD 23 CB COVENTRY £1.5M
M.KILGALLON 24 CB SU £1M
A.BRUCE 23 CB IPSWICH £1M
D.SHITTU 27 CB WATFORD £1.5M
We Need 1 Centre Midfielder And 1 Winger for Cover:
O.GARVAN 20 CM IPSWICH £1.5M
M.ELLIOTT 23 CM BRISTOL £2M
B.HOWARD 25 CM BARNSLEY £2M
B.WATSON 23 CM CP £2M
T.SOARES 22 CM CP £1.5M
G.BARNES 19 RM+CM DER £3M
M.GRADEL 20 RM/CM/LM LEI £600K
We Also Need 1 Striker:
C.JEROME 21 ST BIRMINGHAM £3M ** CRACKING PLAYER .. WORTH THE MONEY .. QUALITY **
M.CHOPRA 24 ST SUNDERLAND £3M
N.MAYANRD 21 ST CREWE £1.5M
Mick Try And Get Some Of These In ..
UP THE WOLVES !!
Jez Moxey should be given the keys to the city!
Awful player. Good riddance.
cheers boys. good signing for us
Moved to the bigger club in stafordshires who play similar hoofball should feel at home.WE ARE THE PREMIER CLUB.
wolves fans are absolute blind idiots. god help you.
Can’t believe anyone would pay 3 mill for him to be honest. Lighweight & inconsistant - Unlucky Stoke, he won’t help your cause much!!
fair play to george for signing another contract to allow us to make money ! shame he only going to have one season in premier but good luck !!!
I understand that he wanted Premiership football, but why choose Stoke? 1 year and back to the Championship!
Wigan were obviously not interested!
good money for average player. now we must re-invest a buy two solid centre backs simular to shittu at watford and balde if he is any good come on wolves start showing you mean business!!
So a big summer of spending now leaves us in profit of about £2M. It’s good business if we use the money well. Can’t see we have enough in midfield. Love Karl Henry but hoping we go for a more creative midfield. Dave Edwards is class if he can stay fit and the same goes for Davies. Jury out on Jones. That doesn’t sound like enough to me. As for Oli - good luck mate - he will look a better player in the Prem.
see ya oli best midfielder wolves have had for quite a few years thank you again for your great football all the best seyi
Never really rated him, too much of a lightweight! £3 million is fantastic, only problem not is getting moxey to spend it.
Go and up the offer for Berra MM - no brainer!
haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa stoke cant believe it u will be back in the chapion ship next ear so much for prem football haaaaa
“McCarthy is not expected to sign a replacement, in the belief he has a strong enough central midfield with new arrival David Jones, Karl Henry, David Edwards and fit-again Mark Davies competing for places.”
He gotta be joking?
David Jones and David Edwards are both attacking midfielders, and neither Henry or Davies has the imposing presence to become the defensive ballwinner we really could need.
Moxey, that is the best stitch up I have ever seen, YOU LEGEND! How he got £3mil for Oli i’ll never know. He wouldn’t be in my first 11 if he’d have stayed. (but I hope he does well for stoke anyway)
To get £3mil, he must have made a highlight video with more editing than a Big Brother episode. DELIGHTED!! I honestly can’t stop laughing!
hahahahah you wolves have no dignity. Why Cant you take the fact that a player wanted to move to a bigger yes BIGGER!! CLUB than you. get over yourselves. BOING BOING!!
I sometimes think that having fans like many of these posters you don’t need enemies. I am certain the majority of Wolves fans wish Oli and Stoke the best of luck whilst thinking they are going to need it. I am sure that Oli, who did the honourable thing in allowing us to have a fee, Would not look out of place in a decent Premiership team. Thanks and good luck.
Goodbye George, and thanx. but once again good business by Jez, fair price for a fair player. Now get a fair CB in and premier here we come.
I think the lad is very highly overated and the fact that he has joined a club which more than likely will be relegated just shows that he himself has a lack of ambition as he will be playing championship football again in a year’s time. If he is that good of a player that mick says he is then why have only stoke, hull and maybe wigan who have shown interest in him? top players go to top clubs and olifinjana is not a top player at all.
even though in my eyes you were an average player for wolves and lacked real bottle in the midfield good luck to you and we could be crossing paths next season
PS, if you read the Wolves site you will see that Jez Moxey considers the money already spent!?
forgot to say well done moxey & co for getting such good money for him
Some interesting issues here. Well done the Chairman & Moxey for playing hardball, although I see the `money already spent` message wasn`t slow in being broadcast.
Apart from Akinbyi and now George, can`t think of too many £m buys we`ve moved on at a profit.
Anyone who saw George at Barnsley last year will know he really wasn`t interested, often flattered to deceive and always for me struggled against nimbler more mobile players. No hard feelings though, season after this one, will we see him back at Molyneux?
Cheers George, a decent servant to our club. Great bit of business by Jez! Hope you stay up next season but can’t help thinking we’re gonna leapfrog you come May. All the best!
Another Henri Camara. Hopefully we will pass the loser when they get relegated and we go up.
£3m - Morgan and Moxey laughing all the way to the bank.
Rarely said but credit where due - well done Moxey, now back that up by making all £3m available so muppet Mick can waste it on another Sunderland or Irish has been!
The real shame about this is that Sandwell Town weren’t saft enough to sign him, that would have been well funny!
Cheers Mick McCarthy for effing up the Wolves! :d
Great example of a lightweight club going up to the Premiership and with money burning a whole in their pockets. Stoke fans will find themselves equally as frustrated next season as Wolves fans have been for ages with George. I wish him well and if concentrates a bit more and shifts the ball quicker, he could be a success, but I doubt it.
Thanks George, all the best.
Just read on the Wolves website that we have only been able to buy Stearman,Vokes,Jones and Iwelumo etc on the strength that the club knew they were selling George and the money weve made on George has literally got to go for those players??
Can someone please tell me where this supposedly £30million investment is?, as it seems to me as though we are having to sell to buy again!?.
A good player on his day but very inconsistant brilliant piece of buisness by Jez.Can we now buy a premier quality replacement.
Baggie fans - you know nothing about Olofinjana, you have not seen him play week in week out like some of us have had to suffer. The guy is awful, he makes excuse after excuse for bad performance after bad performance.
I only wish he’d have gone to the Baggies to be honest, that would have made this even better!
Oh, and if messing up Wolves includes selling two wasters for £4.2m and buying promising young players like Vokes and Stearman then long may it continue.
One of only a handful of our players that is true premiership class. The championship doesn’t suit his style but you mark my words he’ll make a real impression on the premiership!
Good luck to you George and thanks for all you did, shame that some fans really could not see your true class, fortunately for you Tony Pulis and a host of other premiership managers could! I wonder who knows more about football!?!
I’ll tell you what would be even funnier, if he proves a hit at Stoke!!
crappie fans-you really are a bunch of spanners! it was wildly reported that moanbury was after him-but the crappies could’nt get get him, he had a choice to go too two of the clubs that were certainties for relegation - you and stoke so he chose the one that had the better chance of staying up!!!£3million for a very average player, GREEEEEAAAAT.
Never ceases to amaze me..a dam good player in anyones books n some fans still think that its good riddance to bad rubbish…for gods sake guys..wake up. Top scorer in a season, ever present & dynamic with his effort n vision…I think some of us need to accept that good players move on…just hope we can get a replacement that can fill his boots as I think we are short on the bench for players of his pedigree.
Goos luvk George n thanks for the hard work you put in for Us. £3 million + (as I understand there are small add ons)is an excellant bit of business…lets do it on the field now guys..where it matters..!!!!
The futures bright…the futures ORANGE…n Black…..
Albion fans on here again. You sad lot. Perhaps you should have signed him could have seen a decent midfielder then. Crawl back under your rocks and come back when your struggling by November.
Good luck Seyi, though I think going to stoke is not the best move. still if you do well and they get relegated a bigger club might come in for you.
I really hope it not true true that MM is happy with our midfield,whose lack of creativity, pace and goals was once of the reasons we didnt make the play offs
all we are now is a selling club,morgan has said he is going to spend millions,yes he has but it is only what the club has got back for selling players.
another one that upset mad mick how many more
OK player - we got money for him - we have better midfield players in the squad !! Good deal all round !!
Absolutely laughing.
Very bad news, particularly the jez book-balancing statement.seems we still lack ambition?!
3 million for an over-rated lazy ‘prima donna’. If you can get the best from him, you will see how quality he is. But dont hold your breath!
We got at least £1m more than most of us expected - thanks George and good luck in the Prem
Now, Wonder what is going to happen with the money??? Will we buy a better centre half or midfield player or will the money be banked???
Regarding the 30 million pounds; I was always under the impression it would be mainly used as and when we attain premier status to try and ensure we are able to strengthen and therefore maintain premier status. I feel the management have conducted great business this summer. If only we could buy experienced ball winning leaders at centre back and in central midfield then I would be totally confident as to our chances. West Brom fans do stop sniping with silly, infantile comments unless you wish to lose any credibility, and, yes, good luck next season from many Wolves fans as we hope to meet you in the top tier. A lot of Wolves fans hope the honourable Oli does well.
sorry to go on,..but dosnt anyone seemed comcerned that this so called £30million Morgan investment hasnt materialised yet?…and that the £3million made on George has got to be used for the players weve already bought,…something about all this dosnt sound good to me.
26. he wanted to move to a premier league club you fool, and the idea of stoke and your dirty selves being bigger clubs than the wolves is just pure fantasy, 1 season in the premierleague doesn’t mean your a big club, so are you saying stoke are bigger than leeds, forest, sheff weds, birmingham and us, remember we have equally as good and in the case of birmingham and sheff weds we have better tradation and fan bases than them for quite a small town I think that speakes volumes wouldn’t you say?
26.. albion fan.. bigger club ???? how u figure that out, and dont bother saying ur a bigger club cuz if u had a slight bit of honesty u know that isnt true
Before we start knocking Jez and wondering where the money is gonna go,Lets just praise him up for a minute anybody who can get £3M for such an average player like Oli deserves a pat on the back.As far as what the money is spent on how about using it to subsidize the lowering of the cost of a match day ticket and league cup matches,especially for families in lower profile matches.
I know George was inconsistent, but overall I rated him. Getting £3m for him however was excellent business by the fat controller!!! Just hope we spend some the money on a quality centre back like Shittu and/or Marvin Elliot from Bristol City.
Result!
Good luck Big George.
Will people stop saying morgan has £30mil to invest. It wasn’t for 1 or 2 seasons tranfer fees, it’s everything to do with the whole club!! I for one take pride in our frugal nature and have respect for Jez for how he has conducted his business. Just because were not spending a fortune on each player doesn’t mean we are buying rubbish, were just doing good business. If we were soft we could have paid £1.5m for jarvis over £2.5m for Eastwood and you lot would think we were buying quality! Lets just judge the performances and we may need to strenghten in January, but who doesn’t?
HE HAD A MEDIOCRE SEASON,£3 MILLION FANTASTIC BUSINESS;!!!!! WELL DONE MOXEY.. STOURPORT WOLVES
14. baggie9….9 is that how many Arsenal will smash past you?
Crappies-”big club” yeh so big you can’t even get a shirt sponser????
The £30 million that everyone keeps on about is not just for players.
Got to agree with 24. George was hardly Mr. Hardman, but without him that midfield looks light enough to blow away! Marvin Elliott sounds good, but Jez says the money’s already spent! Can’t knock Jez tho, I liked George as a player though he did have a tendency to let games pass him by; but £3M? Well done Jez! Good luck to Seyi, hope he does well.
How any one can compare George’s attitude to Henri Camara is beyond me. For me, he was loyal to the club and, at the end of the day, we have got a great fee for him. Good luck to him; the doubters can now judge him on his performances in the Premiership.
am i dreaming or is this a nightmare.
When are we going to buy some impact players?
Already spent the money?
Where is the midfielder we need - aka Alex Rae or Paul Ince? Where?
If we dont get one.
Forget promotion.
Come on Mr Morgan - pull your finger out or burger off.
johnwolf 63. hopefully most are not that naive to think we have £30 mill to spend on players. But Im a little surprised that its the 1st close season he has been the owner and looking at the deals so far, we are having to use funds raised by selling to fund signings,..dont think many of us expected that?
This time last year most people would have said Wolves have far more potential than Stoke,yet now they have joined the long list of clubs who have overtaken us in the last 25 years.Mike McCarthy this week has said we can’t mention the P word.Tell me about it.
Good luck George,and good luck Stoke the turkeys on this board seem to forget you were better than us last season,and you scored goals,,and your willing to pay 3mill for a player,,we only sell for that kind of money,,We would have the medics round iff we shelled out 3mill,,,Mr Morgans 30 million what a laugh,,and as the Turkeys say great bit of buisness mr moxy,,great for who????
You can knock all you want BUT at the end of the day Stoke and the baggies are premiership teams, Wolves are championship, end of. You keep saying “you will be back down in 1 season” well if that happens it’s still more than you have done ! You would swap with Stoke or the Baggies any day so stop whining and being jealous and just accept that wolves are now a lot smaller club and can’t hold decent players !
Johnwolf, you can see that, i can see that but why is it that most of the fans can’t? When Morgan paid £10, it was so that £30 million would be invested into the club as a whole. Not £30 million for MM to spend on players. Besides which, how many people would trust MM with that sort of money to strengthen the team? I wouldn’t thats for sure!
£3m for largely a waste of space? Fantastic bit of business from Jez… now lets try and ship out Bothroyd, Potter and Elliot for a few more quid, then add another centre-half and perhaps a powerhouse midfielder to replace George, and we are laughing.
Stoke fans - prepare to be frustrated!!
agree with g&b army morgan is a total let down
Could actually look a better player on the big stage and Stoke may well get their money back if they do go down.
How can he be classed as a premier league player, when he couldnt even pass the ball to another old gold shirt,overated and not fit enough to tie up paul inces boots! Thanks Stoke City, I hope mick ripped your hand off!
Must say i’ve never heard of this guy George ?? do you call him??? That we have signed from the wolves…. He will have to work hard for Pulis, or he won’t even get a shirt.
Stoke will surprise some of you doubters, and there is always one certainty…we always get six points off the Baggies……..they think they play like Brazil,but they will NEVER have any sunshine with MOANBURY as manager
Great business. George is a top bloke, but a distinctly average footballer and will be found out in the Prem!
Now will the 3 M’s just go and get a decent centre back please!!!
i disagree with all you lot. Grotge has been the best central midfielder by far for the last few seasons. Good luck Georgy!!!!!
will he leave stoke next season then when they get relegated?
What are the odds that Stoke get relegated, we get promoted, and buy Olo back? All the best Olo!
Moxey says, that we have allready spend the money on the likes of Vokes, Iwelumo, Jones and Stearman.
So, we are losing our most powerful midfielder, and replaces him with two average striker, one attacking midfielder and a young central defender.
See…thats all very obvious..or..
Good riddance.Well done Moxey for daylight robbery, now spend it on a quality midfielder.
i think a lot of u r missing the point here oli stuck by us and didnt do a camara and i for 1 wish him all the best and i think he knows its going to b a struggle at stoke but he knows he will b in the shop window at stoke if he has a good season in the prem and stoke do get relegated a bigger prem team will come in for him.so good luck oli hope u do well in the prem & prove a lot of people wrong
Good luck Oli. You have been a good player for WOlves. One of the best Midfielders we have had for many a year.
However I do think Stoke is a bit of a sideways if not backward step. But you do get prem football for a season so i can see the logic.
Best of luck Big George.
I Still Think We Need A Striker ..
There’s One At Coventry Could Probably Get Him For £1.5m Million Scored 2 Goals Yesterday In A Friendly For Coventry ..
His Name Is .. FREDDY EASTWOOD !!
Carnt’t Wait Till The Coventry Game At Molineux On October The 18th ..
Already Had A Bet To Have Eastwood Score A Hat-Trick Past Us And Then Mick To Be Sacked A Couple Of Days Later ..
THAT WOULD BE ABSOLUTELY GREAT IF IT HAPPENS !!
GET HIM BACK .. UP THE WOLVES !!
great bit of business. on holiday in france. olypyjamas useless, no bite and goes missing in key games. sure jesus loves him, but good riddance and welcome to stoke on a cold feb night with 12000 in the ground and manures under 8,s stuffin em 5 0
10. You’ve spent too much time on Football Manager my friend. Cameron Jerome? Just because he scored 50 goals in the 2012 season when you won the champions league doesn’t mean he’s going to do it in real life.
good luck big george,3m top price by moxey, and I’m another concerned fan as to where the 30m will be spent,seems ke morgan wants to get his 40,000 stadium get us up and sell on on for mega profit, hope I’m wrong though .
good move all round,a motivated George will be a good prem player,Stoke did us good and proper at the mol,hope wolve can show the same work/team ethic combined with that bit of class that Stoke showed last season.
Thanks for your effort Oli.Good luck at Stoke.
I think its a great shame that Rosa isn’t given a proper chance………….maybe as he’s the captain of the youth team he will be mentioned in dispatches!!!!!!
great bit of buisness
hes propa overated
Think he deserves all our best wishes. Even when he wasn’t playing well he was honest about it.
Good luck George.
47.. They are on here due to the fact that we cant normally get on our page due to the likes of the so uniformative Loyal canock wilf
91. How do you think Mick finds his players?
Player Search - Favoured Clubs - Sunderland
10. You keep putting Brian Howard.
Barnsley want 10million for him so think again.
99 Surely Howards not worth £10m?
Well on the Play station he isnt!
a skilful player that was too easily knocked off the ball - when he did get suuck in he gave away needless freekicks, too many of which were in our own back third. Not the ball winning central midfielder we have been crying out for since the departure of Ince.
Too true Wanderer ! Freddy will come back to haunt mm, absolutely no doubt.
such a shame thick micks arrogance has cost us a great player.
“”This is similar to the Joleon Lescott deal in that we had an arrangement with Seyi if we didn’t go up that he would be allowed to join a Premier League club,” said Moxey.”"
If this is the type of deal all the players have the team will have to let them ALL go in a few months!
true wanderer-you have the audacity to call yourself a wolves fan, with garbage like you no wonder we fail, as for all the other “fans” it’s not Mick who is THICK it’s you lot, half a sandwich short of a picnic the lot of ya.
why do ppl write down who we should buy
Like MM looks at these pages and he’ll buy who he feels not you Cameron jerome you away with the clouds mate
N Gerrard would be for a fee he is under 23
Joe Bonamassa is a God I couldn’t agree more saw him live he is amazing
sTOKE DESTROYED US LAST SEASON…..AND THEY ALWAYS BEAT MOANBURYS BOYS…..PLEASE LETS GET REAL STOKE ARE WELL ORGANIZED, WELL BALANCED AND HARD TO BEAT. THEY HAVE A BLUE PRINT FOR SURVIVAL THAT COULD ESTABLISH THEM IN THE PREM….THEY WORK THEIR SOCKS OFF FOR EACH OTHER…..AND UNLIKE US THEY DON’T JUST THINK THEY HAVE A DEVINE RIGHT TO THE TOP FLIGHT.
GEORGE WILL HAVE TO FIGHT TO GET IN THEIR SIDE……… WHICH COULD BE THE MAKING OF HIM.
GOOD LUCK TO THE BIG LAD….
Yes who can forget how we gave away Joleon Lescott!!
I don’t know why Olofinjana was a regular for McCarthy. He could have been a real influence in midfield like Viera but most of the time he was too tired (or too lazy) to get involved in the action. Perhaps he fits one of MM’s two favoured profiles - muscular and powerful (as opposed to young and hungry). He certainly wasn’t a runner and chaser. Comparing his preferential treatment to the disgraceful snubbing (or five minute subbing!) of Eastwood shows what a poor manager MM is.
Nooo Not Matteo…plz
Really think we all need to head into the new season with the “clean slate” attitude and get behind every player and M.M.,…im not a big fan of M.M. or some of the decisions he’s made, same with the players, still havnt heard one person say they think N.Collins is a good player!,..but if we go into this season with prejudice and negativity it will be over before its starts.
Couldn’t agree more with G & B Army…..let’s start the new season fresh, together and positive.
Like i’ve said before Stoke can give us a clue to promotion. . . there team spirit last term was fanastic……no superstars but a superteam that played for each other. Maybe that will keep them up, and they will build with the loads of dosh they’ve got from the promised land ????
Who knows ??? But at least they’ve got there…and we will never get there if we don’t all pull together. Teams are a JIGSAW, and Pulis will fit George into his picture.Please don’t let all our pieces fall apart again !!!