Hope you don't mind me posting, as a Wolves fan, as much contradictory information has been posted about the acquisition of Matt Doherty. I often check this site out anyway, as Spurs are a bit of a 2nd-team for me (if such a thing can really exist?). I last managed to catch Spurs in the flesh in a fairly dour 1-1 v Burnley at Wembley.
Anyway, I will give you my thoughts regards Doc, and the move. If anyone can be bothered to read them. Perhaps I am stating the obvious.
Wolves fans have grown fond of him after 10 years service, rising fron Irish non-League through the divisions with Wolves, to those lofty heights where he scored a superb dramatic winner at home to Man City, which is air-played repeatedly.
But Doherty, as many of you have rightly identified, constitutes two very different players and hence a bit of a conundrum. It's obviously all about how you use him - he is very effective as a wing-back in a 5-man defence and has gained Wolves precious points in this system, with Willy Boly and Saiss behind him and Conor Coady as sweeper. This is the Doc that is so admired, despite his defensive weaknesses. A very good wing-back.
But 'at times' he looks very slow and laboured, even at wing-back, and can be easily-beatable if employed in a 4-man defence as a traditional full-back. He will not sprint back. How he played yesterday was exactly how he plays all the time, though perhaps he did run out of energy late on. But in general with Doc, there are times when you want to install a battery to inject a bit of pace and urgency that appears concerningly absent, whilst at others he gallops forward late on when the game looks dead to score a crucial winning goal.
In a 4-man defence his natural game looks limited and badly exposed at points in time, but in a 5-man defence his frailties can be covered and strengths capitalised. As Wolves play a 5-man defence, dictating a counter-attacking style sometimes even at home, his game often looks impressive. So with Doc, it is critical how he used and in what formation. In a flat back four, he will be found out, and if he is used as such, for me it is the manager's fault not the player's as he should recognise these issues rather than hanging him out to dry.
One aspect that the press have wrongly reported here, is that Spurs somehow prized him away against the manager's wishes, this has been widely reported and it might seemingly make sense admittedly, as Spurs are obviously a bigger pull than Wolves. It is an angle or perspective that the press have keenly grabbed on to here, exacerbated by the likes of Sky Sports 'Mr Manchester United' man himself Dharmesh Sheth.
The truth is somewhat different. Once Mourinho made his move and offer for the player, Nuno and Jeff Shi discussed it, and Nuno sanctioned it, before telling Doherty that they would let him go if he wanted the move. In a way that was pushing him out, with Wolves content to let him go, and the player undoubtedly thrilled about joining Spurs especially once he knew Wolves were prepared to let him go. He still had a few years of his contract to run, so we had no obligation to release him. But Nuno has identified that to progress we need to evolve (easier said than done of course, especially for a club of Wolves stature). No doubt Nuno has/had some regrets, but he clearly feels that for Wolves, on balance it is an area on the pitch that could be improved. We will see if a better player comes in?
The fee seemed low, indeed reported as a steal, but again, if Doc is played in a 5-man system , even at 28 he is surely worth £20m minimum, but if you play him in a 4-man system he is probably not Premiership standard and worth about £5m.
Over to you Mourinho.