Wolves duo earned a right of passage

There will be no shortage of interest in Wolves' star players Steven Fletcher and Matt Jarvis this summer. Our man Tim Nash looks at why the club are right to demand top dollar.

IT'S the calm before the storm.

Most of the footballing world outside of those involved in Euro 2012 is holidaying at the moment. But as the days and weeks rumble on, expect the speculation and interest to start growing and transfer talk to harden from gossip to fact.

For Wolves, that means the sales of Steven Fletcher and Matt Jarvis.

It's not certain the pair, who contributed half of the team's tally of 40 goals in the Premier League, will leave this summer. But their exits are as certain as any out of Molineux before the transfer window closes at the end of August.

From humble beginnings that saw him injured on his club debut, Fletcher has emerged as a genuine talent who wouldn't look out of place playing for a club in the top half of the Premier League.

His scoring record bears that out: 22 goals in 41 league starts is excellent by any standards. Put against the fact he's been playing for a team that has won just 16 out of 76 games since his £7m arrival, and it looks astonishing.

News that Southampton have agreed a £7m fee for Burnley's Jay Rodriguez would have quickly posed the question in Wolves fans' minds as to how much Fletcher would be worth after the Scot left the same club for the same fee two years ago.

At 22, Rodriguez, who scored 15 goals in 37 games in the Championship last season, is the same age Fletcher was when Burnley paid Hibernian £3m for him three years ago. So how much should Wolves be asking for Fletcher now?

When you consider Darren Bent at £24m (nine goals in 22 games last season), or even David Ngog at £4m with a return of three goals in 33, Wolves are within their rights to ask for £10m. Ditto Jarvis.

Looking at wingers, Stewart Downing contributed neither an assist nor a goal in 36 league games for Liverpool last term. He cost them £20m a year ago aged 27.

Ashley Young scored six and made nine assists for Manchester United in the first season since his £17m switch from Villa, and he was the same age as Jarvis – 25 – when he was transferred last summer with just a year left on his contract.

Jarvis's record contrasts well against both, with eight goals and five assists from 37 league outings.

Potential suitors will wait as long as they feel possible before making their moves in the hope that the longer the summer drags on, the bigger possibility of the price dropping.

By and large, Jarvis has given Wolves sterling service; his sparkling second half to last season a tribute to his professionalism when the team was haemorrhaging goals, even if his poor first half of the campaign contributed to them being so deep in trouble.

But Jarvis deserves praise, too, for re-inventing himself; such was the quality of many of his performances in 2012, he managed to silence those critics who thought he had been found out following his promotion to England duty in March 2011.

So, Wolves are in a good position.

Their two main assets are 25, with three years of Premier League experience behind them, albeit Fletcher with two relegations and Jarvis one on their CVs.

But they have their best years ahead of them locked under contract for another three years.

Euro 2012 could of course change the landscape over the destinations of Fletcher and Jarvis.

Eye-catching performances from other players in their price brackets in Poland and Ukraine would catch on potential suitors' radars, leaving the pair hanging on.

But their determination to stay in the top flight will surely bring a sad end to their time at Molineux.

Few fans will begrudge the departures of two players who have arguably done more than anyone else to brighten the gloom over the last two seasons, or in Jarvis's case five years of gradual improvement.

But prepare for a drawn-out affair.

SET?FOR MOLINEUX EXIT?

1. Christophe Berra

2. Steven Fletcher

3. Adlene Guedioura

4. Leigh Griffiths

5. Matt Jarvis

6. Roger Johnson

7. Nenad Milijas

8. Jamie O'Hara

9. Ronald Zubar