As we reach the final few days of the transfer window, clubs will be working tirelessly to bring new players in and move others on. Wolverhampton Wanderers are looking to bolster their squad with a striker before the deadline, with VFB Stuttgart’s Sasa Kalajdzic a reported target.
There are expected to be a few outgoings at Molineux, too, and long-serving defender Willy Boly is expected to be one of the players to be sold. The Ivory Coast international has been with Wolves since 2017, first on loan before joining permanently from Porto after he helped the team gain promotion to the Premier League.
Despite not being one of their biggest stars, he has been a key figure in the club’s recent resurgence. He’s won the Championship title - where he was named in the PFA Championship Team of the Season in 2017-18, been in Europe and got to an FA Cup semi-final. He's been with them on this journey since the beginning, going on to make 147 appearances for the Old Gold in all competitions.
For all he has achieved with this club and what they have given to him, he is acting unprofessionally in the way he is trying to force a move away. If he was unhappy with how things were proceeding, he should've held talks with the key personnel behind the scenes to try and resolve the problem. Instead, he has made things much worse, painting himself as a villain in the process.
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Following Wolves’ 1-1 draw with Newcastle United on Sunday, manager Bruno Lage revealed that the centre-back was named in Wolves’ matchday squad but didn’t even show up at Molineux. Regardless of what your stance on a certain situation is, you cannot just refuse to turn up to work when it is what you are contractually obligated to do. Boly doesn’t seem to have had any regard for the difficult position he put his boss and teammates in by childishly boycotting turning up for a game he was meant to be a part of.
Bruno Lage comments on Willy Boly was on the squad list but did not turn up for the game
If one of Wolves’ defenders had suffered an injury against Newcastle, Lage would have only been able to turn to Leander Dendoncker to fill that role and likely rejig his team as the Belgian is only equipped to play in a back three. Given how Lage has spent the last year slowly moving his players away from playing with that particular system, this hypothetical scenario could’ve inflicted more problems on a side that is winless in their last 11 Premier League matches.
No matter what is going on behind the scenes surrounding a deal away from the club, Boly has showed a severe lack of respect to the supporters who have been behind him since day one. By acting in this way, he may as well be spitting in their faces, it is shameful the way he has acted. It’ll be interesting to see what Wolves have in store for Boly’s poor behaviour, despite it probably not meaning much in the grand scheme of things if he is set for the City Ground. He’ll likely be given a hefty fine but to the modern Premier League footballer, it doesn’t mean a thing or put a dent in their pockets.
The most disappointing thing from this situation is that he will have tarnished what was a strong reputation he had developed from the last five years at the club. He was one of the figures who laid the groundwork to get Wolves to where they are now. Now, he will have gone from hero to zero and the fans will have viewed his actions as severing all ties with them and they will now be happy to see the back of him.
Once a key member of the pack at Molineux, Boly has made himself the lone wolf and it is in everyone’s best interests that they get him out of the club quickly before he can disrupt the squad anymore than he already has.
