Express & Star journalist Liam Keen believes it is time Wolves let go of midfielder Joao Moutinho.
The Lowdown: Deal up soon
Moutinho’s deal with Julen Lopetegui’s side expires at the end of the season, meaning he would be a free agent this summer if a new contract isn’t agreed upon.
The Portuguese midfielder joined the Premier League club back in 2018 from French outfit AS Monaco for a fee of £5m.
In that time, he’s played on 200 occasions for the Old Gold in all competitions, providing five goals and 25 assists.
The Latest: Keen backs Moutinho exit
Keen applauded Moutinho for his longevity with the club, but he believes it is now time for the club to let go of him when his deal runs out.
Speaking on the E&S Wolves Podcast about whether he would offer Moutinho a new deal at Molineux, he said: “Probably not. It’s a tough one because he’s been a brilliant servant for Wolves.
“It feels like a lot of players have come to a natural end to their cycle at Wolves, him being one.
“Other players, some that I’ve mentioned already that may move on in the summer, it feels like it might be coming towards the end of the old guard, if you will.
“I equally wouldn’t be upset if he did stay, because you can still get something out of him, he still offers something,
“But he’s on decent whack and I think with the midfield options they’ve got… it’s time to make a change.”
The Verdict: The time is right
We believe that it would be the correct decision for Wolves to let Moutinho go this summer.
He’s certainly been a long-standing servant for the Old Gold, and in his first two Premier League seasons alone, he helped provide 14 assists.
The midfielder is certainly well-admired by the Molineux faithful, so we’d imagine they would be sad to see him leave the club in the future.
However, Wolves have a number of young central midfielders in their squad, and our view is that Lopetegui should look to the future and give the likes of Joe Hodge and Boubacar Traore more opportunities.
Allowing Moutinho to exit in the summer would open up the door for those two players to get more chances off the bench or potentially from the start in some fixtures from next season onwards.