How Wolves once made £117m selling players and still lost £15.3m

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·4 October 2026

How Wolves once made £117m selling players and still lost £15.3m

Wolves once made major money on player sales and still posted a loss in their accounts

Wolves made a total of £117 million from player sales but still posted a loss of £15.3 million in the year before their relegation from the Premier League.

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The Midlands outfit had been in decline in the years since they finished 10th in the table in 2022.

The Old Gold came 13th, 14th and 16th before finishing bottom of the table under Rob Edwards in 2025/26.

Despite the 14th and 16th place finishes in 2024 and 2025, a number of players attracted significant interest, and it led to a busy transfer window for the club under Vitor Pereira.

Wolves’ major player sales in 2024 and 2025

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According to the BBC, Wolves earned a total of £117 million from major player sales from the financial period that included 2024/25.

This included the departures of Max Kilman and Pedro Neto, who were sold to West Ham and Chelsea, respectively, in deals that were reportedly worth £40 million and £54 million, with Daniel Podence’s departure also included in the figures.

Wolves had an extended reporting period for their books, which also allowed the 2025 sales of both Matheus Cunha and Rayan Aït-Nouri to be included as well.

The Brazilian signed for Manchester United in a deal reportedly worth £62.5 million, while Aït-Nouri signed for Manchester City for around £33.7 million.

Of course, these tallies add up to more than £117 million, but they would have all been booked against the ongoing cost of these players, and this is the figure left over.

Wolves’ 2024/25 loss

Despite the significant income generated from player sales, Wolves still managed to post a loss for their accounts for the 2024/25 campaign.

The club had a loss of £15.3 million, with a number of factors considered for the financial difficulty.

Most alarmingly, Wolves’ wage-to-turnover ratio for that campaign amounted to 91.2 percent, which meant that most of the money being earned by the Old Gold was being put back into player salaries.

This increase in wages was coupled with a loss in income generated from both their competitive Premier League standing, and from their money earned from broadcasting rights.

Wolves’ disappointing 2025/26

The player sales of Neto, Kilman, Cunha and Ait-Nouri all contributed to the team’s competitive decline.

Most obviously, Wolves lost key attacking stars in Neto and Cunha, who contributed to the team scoring 50 and 54 league goals in 2023/24 and 2024/25.

This figure dropped sharply to just 27 goals in 2025/26, which is not nearly good enough to survive in the top flight.

Cesar Peixoto will now be hoping that he can fix this issue in the Championship, so that Wolves can earn promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt.