Paul Lambert worked with Newcastle United outcast Grant Hanley at Blackburn Rovers – and reuniting at Wolves should appeal to both parties.
Life is never simple at Wolverhampton Wanderers. According to the Scottish Sun, the Midlands club are plotting a summer move for exiled Newcastle United defender Grant Hanley this summer with manager Paul Lambert hoping to instil a locally-sourced spine into his multicultural team.
However, this comes just a few days after The Telegraph claimed Lambert could quit Molineux after the club’s Chinese owners told him that super-agent Jorge Mendes would be conducting all of the club’s recruitment from here on.
The fact that only one of the foreign imports brought to Wolves by Mendes last summer, Helder Costa, could be described as an unqualified success appears to have slipped the owners’ minds.
Nonetheless, if Lambert is given the autonomy to bring in one or two of his own players, a move for Hanley would make perfect sense.
Taken for Grant-ed at Newcastle
The rugged, Scottish international centre-back has started just five Championship games for Newcastle since signing from Blackburn Rovers for £6 million last summer (Daily Mail). However, Lambert appears to trust in his abilities far more than Magpies’ manager Rafael Benitez, having worked with Hanley at Ewood Park last season.
And his raft of Championship experience could come in handy in a side chock full of youthful potential and players more in-tune with the domestic leagues of Portugal and France than the English second tier.
Wolves’ penchant for conceding sloppy goals has held them back all season, not helped by the fact 33-year-old Mike Williamson has barely featured thanks to injury.
Therefore, Hanley promises to replicate the veteran defender’s know-how and no-nonsense approach in Wolves’ flat-back four.
That’s if the club’s owners allow Lambert to bring in his own men, however. If not, they could miss out on not only their manager but a talented centre-half desperate to prove a point.
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