Jordan Graham has it all to do to earn a new contract at runaway Championship leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Jordan Graham needs to snatch his chances when they arrive at Wolves – because there are unlikely to be too many of them between now and the end of the season.
The powerhouse winger was wheeled out for Wolves’ Under 23 clash against local rivals Aston Villa on Monday night, but he did not exactly make a lasting impression that will boost his already slim hopes of forcing his way into the club’s first-team plans.
Aston Villa, inspired by the electric Callum O’Hare (below) and the lethal Corey Blackett-Taylor, reinforced their status as the Midlands’ finest youth side with a 6-1 thrashing. And Graham, the 22-year-old former Villa youngster, endured a night to forget.
He might have appeared the most likely source of a goal, with many of Wolves’ attacks going through Graham, but his end product let him down time and time again. Yes, it was Graham’s corner that led to Jose Xavier’s consolation but that was a rare moment of quality in an otherwise frustrating showing from a player who has rapidly become Wolves’ forgotten man.
This is not all Graham’s fault, however.
The former England U17 star moved to Molineux permanently in 2015 when Wolves were a rather run-of-the-mill Championship side before suffering a very serious knee ligament injury in January of the following year.
By the time Graham returned a year later, Wolves had been bought by Chinese investors and super-agent Jorge Mendes (above) was busy filling the squad with his own Portuguese wonderkids.
Now, after an ill-fated loan spell at Fulham was cut short, Graham faces the possibility of becoming a free-agent. His contract will expire in the summer unless Wolves decide to trigger their extension clause – and more disappointing U23 displays won’t help his cause.
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