Wolverhampton Wanderers have had plenty of players leave for impressive fees over the last few years.
The exit of Matheus Nunes, Ruben Neves, and Nathan Collins saw the club pocket over £100m in the summer, which they used a good chunk of to buy Matheus Cunha.
The fact that this has been going on for a while now just highlights how great their transfer strategy is, with their sustainable approach helping them keep their status as a Premier League club.
However, there is a certain player who the Wanderers played a blinder on back in 2019.
Benik Afobe’s time at Wolves
Benik Afobe’s career is fascinating, and his time at Wolves can certainly be described as interesting.
The striker originally joined the club in January 2015 from Arsenal for a fee of around £2m after impressing for MK Dons on loan, scoring 19 goals and registering five assists in 30 games.
Over the next 46 matches for Wolves in the Championship, Afobe went on to score 22 goals, which earned him a £9m move to Bournemouth just a year later.
In January 2018, the “excellent” forward, as per England manager Gareth Southgate, returned to Wolves on loan, with the club then buying him back for £12.5m in the following summer.
However, six months later, he would leave Wolves once again for Stoke City for £12m. After that, although a shock, Afobe did not return to the Wanderers again for the rest of his career.
Afobe’s career once leaving Wolves
In his first season at Stoke, Afobe netted eight goals, with his performance in the second half of the season largely uninspiring, which ultimately led to the forward being loaned out yet again to Bristol City in the summer of 2019.
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His career would continue to follow a similar theme, enjoying a spell in Turkey for Trabzonspor and, more recently, a return to the Championship with Millwall.
The former England U21 international's time at the Den was rather successful, with one of his best seasons being in the 2021/22 campaign, netting 12 goals in 34 Championship. Unfortunately, the club missed out on a play-off spot, but Afobe’s influence on the side will be remembered.
Afobe was most recently playing in the UAE after leaving Millwall, first playing for Hatta and more recently for Al-Dhafra.
His latest game was on the 13th of January, and according to SofaScore, the 31-year-old has scored 11 goals this season.
Wolves
64
36
Bournemouth
70
15
Stoke
51
11
Trabzonspor
29
5
Millwall
65
20
Nonetheless, the fact that Wolves were able to recover all of their costs on Afobe over the years was an absolute masterstroke, with his career clearly not living up to what it once could have.
The attacker failed to make any club his home over his career, struggling to settle down for any extended period, which ultimately may have cost him becoming a constant figure in the Premier League, with both the Cherries and Wolves now recognised as top-flight clubs.