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Comment: Benik Afobe saga leaves sour taste

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Well I don't think any of us expected that.

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Jez Moxey and Kevin Thelwell's comments attacking Benik Afobe's professionalism were a 'set your faces to stunned before you read this' moment.

Not necessarily because of the content. Let's be honest, these are accusations – of not trying, of not giving 100 per cent, of not wanting to be at Wolves – that have been aimed at Afobe by many Wolves supporters in the past six months.

But to hear them from the chief executive and the head of recruitment is a different matter.

It crossed a line that is rarely breached.

And they certainly weren't comments used lightly, or off the cuff, especially from a man in Moxey who is so well versed at playing the media game.

The words on Afobe wanting to leave, of being desperate to get to the Premier League and to effectively force a move, are not necessarily disparaging or surprising.

But to say he was no longer trying, to question his integrity on the football field? Well, fairly jaw-dropping. It's the fiercest barb you could level at a footballer.

"You could list our entire first team squad and see that they were trying," Thelwell said.

"Benik was no longer trying to play for us and that was undermining everything we were trying to achieve."

Moxey added: "This football player doesn't want to play the hordes of Wolverhampton Wanderers fans that adore this football club, he doesn't want to play for us, he doesn't want to play for his team mates, he wants to go to the Premier League which he's dreamed of since a boy, and we understand it."

The chief executive would also reference Afobe's father, mother and sister in the list of people trying to get Benik out of Wolves, comments that will have hurt the player.

"It wasn't the Benik we signed," Thelwell added of this season's performances. "The reaction wasn't the one we hoped for. Everybody could see that in the performances."

Afobe responded in a predictable manner, saying he wouldn't disrespect his team mates and that Wolves were hanging him out to dry.

Meanwhile Kenny Jackett, at today's pre-Preston press conference, gave a Boycott-esque masterclass in playing a straight bat, answer countless questions with (and I paraphrase) "I don't want to talk about this, I want to talk about the current squad", adding only one snippet in that "people saw the games, they can make up their own mind".

So where does the truth lie?

As ever in these situations, it's somewhere in the middle.

Was Benik Afobe trying? Yes, of course he was. And I'm sure Thelwell would use a different choice of words given the opportunity.

But was he giving 100 per cent? Was he straining ever single sinew to chase loose balls? Was he constantly harassing defenders, playing with vim and vigour, making the most of his talents and performing as he had done in the second half of last season? In a word, no.

Let's not forget, he was dropped by Kenny Jackett as a direct result of this.

He was clearly distracted by what had happened in the summer, with Norwich.

He wanted to leave for the Premier League at the earliest opportunity possible. If Wolves weren't challenging for promotion, then they were a stepping stone for Afobe's ambitions. That much is certain.

And his body language, one of frustration, certainly with the team's performances and certainly with the absence of his old muckers Sako and Dicko, reflected this.

But then who, in any job, wouldn't be distracted if they knew that in a couple of months' time they'd be earning four times their current salary at a different company?

The only solution was for him to leave. It happened, and it seemed everyone had put it on the back burner.

And that's why the word 'unnecessary' sums this public dispute up better than any other.

The issue of Afobe being sold wasn't a 'live' one. Fans agreed it was inevitable, they'd stomached it.

Afobe's conduct clearly rankles with Wolves, who were perhaps using this issue to try and placate their supporters, to deflect attention, and to ease anger and discontent on a wider scale.

If that's the case then there are more pertinent subjects to deal with. Not least the matter of replacing the man we're all talking about, with comments suggesting Michal Zyro being a direct replacement appeasing no one, given they are a contradiction to what Jackett was saying throughout January.

Few come out of this with great credit. Not Moxey and Thelwell for unnecessarily reviving a dead issue and airing some dirty linen in public. And not Afobe, if the comments from the aforementioned pair ring true.

In time, or indeed now if you can see through the fog, Afobe's time at Wolves was a resounding success for player and club. He scored 23 goals in 48 games, was bought for £2m and sold for £10m. Everyone's a winner. And it's time to move on.

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