Why Wolves Could Allow Ben Marshall To Leave In January And It Might Be The Right Thing To Do
According to reports, Wolverhampton Wanderers look set to part company with one of last season’s regulars, Ben Marshall, with an exit from the West Midlands club looking more and more likely.
Although it seems like a lifetime ago already, Marshall left a sinking ship in Blackburn Rovers in order to link up once again with his former manager Paul Lambert and the pair worked well together, which was in contrast to how Wolves were going as a whole.
Since then though, Portuguese boss Nuno Espirito Santo has replaced the former Norwich and Villa manager and has not had the same time for Marshall at all. The midfielder, in fact, has not completed a Championship match this season and now the 26-year-old is facing the chop from Molineux.
Although more signings are on the way to Wolves in January, with back-up for striker Leo Bonatini looking a priority, the club have tons of options in the midfield and in forward positions generally and so Marshall looks like the one who will be left without a chair when the music stops.
With Wolves intent on turning some of their loan captures into permanent deals in January, they are in danger of flouting financial fair play rules too and so departures will be a way of life between now and February.
Marshall has been a little unlucky arguably, since his pass completion rate in the league in the short opportunities he’s been given has been above 86%, which marks him out as a player with some quality. His passing figures had been rising season-on-season too so this looks like no fluke, though others in the squad perhaps just possess that bit more magic going forward.
The likes of Ivan Cavaleiro and especially Diogo Jota really do have that bit of magic and always look as though they can change a game on their own, a description so far not attributed to Marshall. So allowing him to leave seems fair.
Marshall though, for what it’s worth, should not worry. Many a Championship side would love to have him in their side and so he could potentially have his pick of clubs and can afford to wait until the end of the window for the best deal to come along.
The only down side now is that, the way things look, whichever club he chooses is likely to be some way below Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Championship table.