Express & Star

Francois Moubandje and Nicolai Boilesen turned Wolves down in window

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Wolves agreed deals to buy two international left-backs in January – but both players were unwilling to move to the Championship.

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Recruitment boss Kevin Thelwell said deals were in place to first sign Switzerland defender Francois Moubandje, of Toulouse, and then Ajax's Danish international Nicolai Boilesen, as revealed at the time in the Express & Star.

A third unnamed player was also closely looked at, and Thelwell said that particular deal may be revived in the summer.

Wolves are thought to have a strong interest in Albion's left-back Sebastien Pocognoli.

On 25-year-old Toulouse man Moubandje, Thelwell told the Express & Star: "The deal was done with the player and the football club, but then he got cold feet on the fact we were a 'division two' club in his eyes, and therefore he thought he might jeopardise his European Championship place.

"He spoke to the national team coach who basically said, 'that's going to be a problem for me if you decide to go a level down'.

"Nicolai Boilesen, we spoke to his representatives who came and visited the club, but again for similar reasons decided to hang off until the end of the season."

Having signed defender Mike Williamson, combined with the form of Matt Doherty, the impending return from injury of Kortney Hause and the emergence of youngster Sylvain Deslandes, Wolves elected to hold fire on signing a replacement for Scott Golbourne, who was sold to Bristol City for £300,000.

Thelwell added: "It really came down to, can we sign the right calibre of player? We felt we had enough support in the ones we've got."

As well as Williamson, Wolves signed Michal Zyro and Joe Mason in January, plus Will Randall, Hakeem Odofin and Aaron Collins for the under-21 squad.

But a direct replacement for Benik Afobe wasn't forthcoming.

Thelwell said of the ultimately fruitless search: "Even though he came in as a wide player, Kenny always had it in mind that Zyro could play up top.

"Obviously we signed Mason, who we'd be tracking for a long time and feel can play a big part in the way that we want to play.

"And looking at Bjorn Sigurdarson, who's a £2.5m striker, him coming back, you can't ignore the fact he's big, strong, mobile, pacey, powerful, and has got the pre-requisites that we're actually looking for. So providing an opportunity for him. And those, plus Adam Le Fondre, gives us four strikers.

"Would we have liked another one? Yes we would, but unfortunately circumstances didn't allow us to do that.

"You've got to take the right player. If you don't take the right player then everybody knows it pretty quickly.

"We decided to continue with the players we had. If we couldn't secure another player that would fit us going forwards, then it was right to keep our powder dry and wait for another opportunity in the summer.

"The difficulty we sometimes have is we can't be as open as we'd like to be in terms of the complexity of those deals.

"The point to make is, we worked as hard as we possibly could. We've been more active than most clubs in the Premier League and Championship.

"People don't like this, because they want the excitement of signings and deadline day. But you can't get away from the fact, and this is quite boring, but 99 per cent of the job is who you don't buy.

"It's very important you don't take too many risks and buy the wrong ones."