Wolves chairman Jeff Shi has made an appearance on the Business of Sport podcast – and it’s safe to say fans have not been left happy.
Jeff Shi is not a popular figure at Molineux these days for a number of reasons.
He is the face of Fosun and the man who signs off on all the big decisions at the club. Therefore, fans hold him responsible for Wolves’ decline over the past few years.
Fosun did a great job in the first few years of owning the club, helping to get Wolves out of the Championship and into the Premier League.
Once there, Wolves were just making up numbers – they were a seriously competitive outfit, finishing seventh in the first two seasons after promotion.
There were some great times, with Wolves in the Europa League and also reaching a semi-final.
During his podcast appearance, Shi spoke a little bit about former players – and made a shocking admission.
Jeff Shi says he didn’t want to sell Diogo Jota in 2020
Jeff Shi at Molineux watching Wolves play against Manchester City.
Photo by MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The summer of 2020 was a very interesting one for Wolves.
MORE WOLVES STORIES
Wolves had just finished seventh in the league, and the hope for supporters was potentially finishing even higher up in 2020/21.
But Wolves’ transfer business that summer was questionable, with the purchase of Fabio Silva for £35 million particularly memorable.
But one of the most significant deals was Diogo Jota being sold to Liverpool for £45 million, a decision that Shi – who has given up his office at Wolves’ training ground – says he did not want to make.
He said on the Business of Sport podcast: “In the last eight or nine years, I think we shouldn’t have sold Diogo Jota.
“At the time, I spoke with Nuno and (he said) we may well one of the players maybe, Diogo, Adama whatever. And then Nuno chose Adama to stay.
“Because he thought maybe Adama was so important for how he plays. Of course at the time, Diogo was injured a little bit too much so he was injured for two months, and then two months again or whatever, and not playing so well in the last three or four months for us.
“He went to Liverpool and did so well, I was very happy for him. He was a very good guy and a smart boy.
“But if you ask me if I could change the history, I wouldn’t have sold him.”
Wolves missed Diogo Jota
It is really interesting to hear Shi say that he never really wanted Jota to be sold.
He was a big source of output for Wolves, scoring 44 goals and making 19 assists in 131 matches.
In the first season after Jota was sold, Wolves ended up finishing 13th, scoring just 36 league goals. In that campaign Traore, the player Nuno wanted to keep over Jota, scored just three goals and made three assists across all competitions.
Former Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo looks on.
Photo by Craig Mercer – CameraSport via Getty Images
Over at Liverpool, Jota – who this year has been loosely linked with a return to Wolves – hit 13 in 30 appearances, providing one assist.
Traore – who Wolves had signed for £18 million in 2018 (BBC Sport) – was often criticised for his lack of output in the final third.
He was a huge threat with his pace and power, but undoubtedly he fell short when it came to scoring and assisting, and one wonders how different the 2020/21 season would have been had the Spaniard left and not Jota.