After leaving Wolves, the £23 million player is flourishing sooner than anticipated

admin | November 7, 2023 | Other Clubs | No Comments

A lot of Wolves fans were puzzled that Nathan Collins was let go by Wolves in the summer – and the defender is already starting to thrive at Brentford.

Collins was the second high-profile exit at Molineux, after Ruben Neves had departed for the Saudi Pro League.

News of Brentford’s interest was made public and a couple of weeks after the initial reports, he officially signed for the Bees. Wolves banked £23 million from his sale, giving a small profit of around £3 million.

It was a decision that not all Wolves fans were on board with. While Collins did has some poor showings in the old gold shirt, the feeling for many was that he had the potential to become a very solid Premier League centre-back.

But with Wolves struggling financially, the decision was made to sell him and it already looks like he is thriving…

Nathan Collins praised after making move to Brentford from Wolves

The Athletic have taken a look at how Collins has started so far at Brentford.

It is stated that when he signed, he initially looked like he would take some time to break into the team and make an impact.

But an injury to Ben Mee has allowed Collins to make his mark quicker than expected. Collins put in arguably his best display of the season in the 3-2 win over West Ham United at the weekend.

He made 10 headed clearances, which was more than any other player. Ethan Pinnock was second with three. He dealt with James Ward-Prowse’s set pieces very well.

Collins was also decisive at the other end for Brentford. Firstly, he put Konstantinos Mavropanos under pressure for the equaliser, and he then grabbed a late winner with a great header – his first for the club.

It is noted that Collins hasn’t been perfect, having made errors against Everton and Manchester United. But on the whole, the feeling is that Brentford have made a great signing.

Wolves are not missing Collins… yet

So it’s been a really promising start for Collins at Brentford and fair play to him for that.

It was a bit of a shame he left Molineux in the summer. Collins himself said recently that he never really wanted to leave the club.

But ultimately, he was not in Julen Lopetegui’s plans at the time and Wolves were obviously in some financial difficulty.

Sporting director Matt Hobbs suggested that Wolves do stand to gain off Collins if he achieves certain things at Brentford. So at least the club sort of protected itself.

At the moment, the partnership of Craig Dawson and Max Kilman is looking good for Wolves. Toti Gomes has also proven himself to be a very good defender.

So Wolves aren’t missing Collins just yet.

But it’s very possible the Republic of Ireland international will start to really develop soon. Hopefully, he doesn’t prove to be a serious regret for Wolves.