Wolves: Molineux’s previous record signing hasn’t scored in the fourth division yet.
The former center-forward for the Old Gold is currently competing in English football’s fourth division.
While Wolverhampton Wanderers were still in the Championship, the Chinese investment organization Fosun International completed the takeover, and they have subsequently made them a Premier League team with major investment.
Whom has Fosun spent the most money on to bring to Wolves?
To avoid being demoted back to the second tier, they have been willing to spend big money to assemble a squad that can compete in the top division.
During the Fosun ownership of Wolves:
| Most expensive signings | Fee paid |
| Matheus Cunha | £42.8m |
| Matheus Nunes | £38.5m |
| Fabio Silva | £34.3m |
| Raul Jimenez | £32.5m |
| Goncalo Guedes | £27.9m |
But during his tenure at the Molineux, former owner Steve Morgan also made financial contributions and assisted the team in playing in the Premier League for several seasons.
When the team needed strengthening, he was willing to occasionally spend big money, and the hiring of Steven Fletcher was one of his better moves.
What did Wolves spend to acquire Steven Fletcher?
The former Old Gold executive authorized the club-record acquisition of the center-forward from Burnley for a purported fee of £7 million back in the summer of 2010.
Fletcher started his career with Hibernian in Scotland, where he had a fantastic run of 43 goals in 161 games after making his way up through the academy system.
After that, he joined the Clarets, where in his first Premier League campaign, he attracted attention. The Scottish star’s 35 top-flight appearances in the 2009–10 season saw him score eight goals and hand out four assists, which was enough to encourage Mick McCarthy and Morgan to make a move to sign him.
Wolves spent a club record to acquire Fletcher, who had demonstrated his ability to score goals in the highest flight of English football with 12 goals for Burnley across all competitions. They did so in the hopes that he could serve as their go-to scorer at the top of the pitch.
Fletcher scored how many goals for Wolves?
The Scotland international proved to be a great addition to the Old Gold, maintaining his goal-scoring form and contributing double digit goals in each of his two seasons with the team.
In the end, he scored 24 goals in 67 games across all competitions, and his 22 goals during his two Premier League seasons with Wolves stood out.
After joining the squad from Burnley in 2010, Fletcher produced an astounding ten goals in 15 top-flight starts, three more than any of his teammates could muster.
In the 2011–12 season, the former Hibernian star followed it up with 12 goals in 26 starts—four more than any other player on the team managed in the final third.
These numbers demonstrate that Fletcher was a fantastic acquisition by Morgan and McCarthy, who praised him as a “terrific” player and gave Wolves a consistent goal threat in the Premier League.
He performed as predicted following a club-record deal from Burnley and was the team’s top goal scorer in both of his seasons at the top level for the Old Gold.
What price did Wolves receive for Fletcher?
When Wolves finally made the decision to sell the Scotland international in the summer of 2012, following their relegation to the Championship, Sunderland was able to sign him for a reported amount of £12 million, with an additional £2 million in add-ons.
From the initial £7 million they paid the Clarets to sign him in the summer of 2010, the club generated at least a profit of £5 million after just two seasons at Molineux.
After only one season of playing in England, it was a risk to pay a club record sum to recruit him from Burnley, but McCarthy’s gamble paid off.
With his consistent ability to score, Fletcher put on excellent performances and earned Wolves a decent salary to lessen the financial impact of their relegation.
Given his track record on the field and the substantial cost they were paid by the Black Cats, McCarthy and Morgan struck gold with the 6 foot 1 finisher both on and off the field, and that signing should be remembered as a huge success.
Now, where is Fletcher?
11 years after leaving Wolves, the 37-year-old marksman is now playing in the fourth division of English football for Welsh club Wrexham, which is notably owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney from Hollywood.
He joined them over the summer from Dundee United, however he has yet to score in either of his first two League Two games of the 2023–24 season.
The veteran striker has had a reliable, if unspectacular, career since leaving Molineux. He scored nine goals in the Scottish Premiership last season.
Before moving to Sheffield Wednesday in 2016, which followed a loan stint with Marseille during which he scored three goals in 18 appearances for the French team, Fletcher amassed 23 goals in 108 games for Sunderland, including 11 goals in his first 28 Premier League games.
In 136 games for the Owls, the Scottish star scored 38 goals and provided nine assists, scoring at least ten goals in three of his four Championships seasons with the team.
These numbers demonstrate that Fletcher never improved upon his 12-goal Premier League season with Wolves as he went on to play for Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke in the Championship before switching to Scottish football and currently playing for Wrexham in League Two.
Given that his career has been on a downhill slope since his debut season with the Black Cats, it appears that the £14 million package they were able to agree upon for his sale to Sunderland was a masterclass by the Old Gold.
Over the course of his club career, the Scottish forward has tallied 165 goals, or one per 3.96 games, in 653 appearances. In contrast, he scored 24 goals in 67 games for the Old Gold, scoring a goal every 2.79 games on average.
As a result, Fletcher’s tenure with the Wolves was a stroke of genius from beginning to end. After a £7 million transfer, he earned a significant price after two years, and after leaving the club, he failed to progress. He had already proven his value to them on the field.
