Wolves' Kenny Jackett reveals Leigh Griffiths' transfer frustration

Kenny Jackett today revealed his frustration that Leigh Griffiths' Wolves move did not work out but insisted the striker's exit was right for the club.

And the head coach is happy he has more than adequately replaced the Scot with Nouha Dicko. Griffiths picked up an SPL winner's medal this week with Celtic, who he joined for £1m in January.

The 23-year-old, who remains Wolves' 13-goal top scorer, has bagged five in seven games for the Hoops in the SPL. But his Molineux form tailed off amid speculation Celtic wanted him and Jackett decided to sell and sign Dicko plus £750,000 Leon Clarke.

"There's some frustration and it's a shame because the player he looked in the first month or two of the season was excellent," said Jackett. "But over the last few months, you could tell his heart was elsewhere.

"It just didn't work out and then it seemed the best thing would be to let him go back to Scotland and try to get the best price for him we could, and we got a very good price.

"If they're not going to do it for you or for the club, the best thing you can do is get the best price because football clubs can't ever be too focused on one player, however good he is.

"He's been quoted as saying at the start of December that he'd heard of Celtic's interest, so there was the family thing and the pull of Celtic for a Scottish lad and those factors contributed.

"It's about a winning team and I'm confident we did the best thing for our club."

Dicko, 21, has hit the ground running with eight goals in 11 games for Wolves since his £300,000 move from Wigan.

"A big part of it is the standard of people coming in and we moved on with Nouha Dicko," said Jackett. "He had a couple of tired games – Shrewsbury and Crawley – where it didn't happen for him and at Crawley especially, he didn't have that spark.

"But coming on the other night against Colchester, he did – he was a threat and a danger so hopefully that break has helped him get back to his best."