Benik Afobe has signed for Wolves on a permanent basis in a deal thought to be worth around £2 million.
The 21-year-old striker had been on loan at MK Dons where he scored 19 goals in 30 appearances so far this season, and that form persuaded the Midlands club to make a move.
With his chances at Arsenal restricted due to the more experienced Olivier Giroud, Danny Welbeck and Alexis, the club were willing to let him go and the chance to move to a Championship club was obviously hard to resist.
Wolves are currently 9th in the second tier of English football and will be fighting for a play-off spot. MK Dons are 3rd in League One, thanks in no small part to Afobe’s goals.
Speaking to local publication Express & Star about the deal for Afobe, Wolves’ head coach Kenny Jackett – who had him on loan at Millwall – revealed he’d been keeping tabs on the England under-21 international for some time.
“I watched him come through at Arsenal and watched his progress up to the current time and we feel, at 21, he fits into the bracket we are looking for that can improve us.
“He is on a good run, a very good run and has got over his injury problems. He has proved an asset for MK Dons, has a good goalscoring record in League One and he is ready now to step up to try the challenge of Championship football, which many of our players have done this year.
“He has the pace, power and goal-scoring record that we need. He will help us in the second half of this season and the years to come.”
Afobe, who has signed a three and a half year deal, had been very highly rated at Arsenal but two serious knee injuries curtailed his development and with timing such a factor in players’ careers his recovery coincided with the Gunners adding more experienced fire power to their ranks.
Good luck to him.
Hope to see him in the Prem League some day. All the best!
I guess at 21 he’s no longer a prospect. I remember the Dutch Skunk spoke very highly of him a few years ago. Watching him knock Man Ure out of the League Cup was priceless!
now we have got 2 mil for him.cleared the wage bill of poldi,sonogo,akpom(probably).we have got at least 4 mil. so we can afford to buy Winston Reid without adding any penny
easy isnt it?
Winston Reid? Did you not see how silly we made him look last game? I think he was nutmegged 2 or 3 times.
If you picked the game against Southampton where Kos forgot how to play football you’d think he’s shit too.
This is quite annoying really. I know football is a contact sport and all, but can injuries really be such a vital factor for a club’s destiny? I’ve heard of injury-prone players. Arsenal is an injury-prone club!
Gutted to see him go. Can’t believe we got 2 million for him though. Best of luck to him and hope I see him back at arsenal one day cos he deserves it
Hoping there’s a buy-back clause. Just in case…
I assume there’s at least a hefty sell on clause…
“The exodus of strikers…” The story of this transfer window so far!
I see Chuba Akpom’s career with Arsenal ending this way. I don’t see him breaking into the 1st team anytime soon. When he’s 21 and nothing changes, he will leave.
Good luck Benik Afobe.
Quite liked what I saw of him. Shame really.
Good luck Benik.
Benik, we hardly knew ye 🙁
Sigh! When is players leave our club to clubs and contracts of all shapes and sizes it all happens so easy and so early in the window.
When it comes to buying, why is it so difficult for us?!
For all our injury problems at the back, why is our energy thus far been on clearing out the forwards? Not saying don’t it (what influence I’ve over it anyway) but it’s frustrating massively that we have not sorted out our defensive short comings in terms of numbers yet!
We’re apparently close to signing Bielka (exciting young player). Why is it so hard for arsenal to get deals done? The bigger the player the harder the deal. If you want a player that can really add something to this squad you really need to convince the other club to sell which is very hard in January.
Best to let him move on as there was no way he was going to get into the squad anytime soon even with Sanogo and Podolski out on loan. Campbell can only see the pitch in pre-match warmups or at halftime and he has a far greater resume than Afobe. Attacking positions are by far our greatest area of depth and even with the two on loan we still have Giroud, Welbeck, Campbell, Walcott and Sanchez that can play centrally not to mention Akpom. Plus we very well may be in the market this Summer for another attacker.
Really impressive goal scoring record!!! (And yes I know it’s league 1 and it’s still impressive!!!!)
Really sad he didn’t get to play for the senior team. I personally had very high hopes for him. Truly one of the most clinical finishers ever at the junior levels. Here’s to hoping he has a storming career and eventually finds his way back home. Good luck, son.
Good luck to him, he’s a talente lad.
Can’t believe we’ve let a lad go that has been with us since 6 years of age, and has just scored 19 goals in 30 games. I appreciate it is a lower level but good record never the less.
All these talented kids must be wondering how Sanogo gets a chance but they don’t?
Good luck to him. He’s got the right attitude unlike some of the youngsters we’ve had through the system.
I hear J.E.T is starting to do well in lower leagues too – he left us a while ago.
Good luck to him. Have only heard good things about the lad. Don’t know who all are coming through the ranks at Arsenal? Anyone close to breaking into the 1st team?
Akpom and Zelalem are very talented I’d say, there are lots of talented youngsters at arsenal. The only thing is that you never know how well some of them might be developing. Players can look like they are gonna become the real deal at 16-17 but then just ‘halt’ in the development. It is hard to say who will make it in to the first team and who will not.
Dan Crowley will make it. Better than Cesc and Jack imo
Best of luck and a very good choice to sign for Wolves I’d say! Wishing him all the best!
Hope there is a 50% sell on clause I think this kid could be decent.
Benik is all smile in the picture. Quite different from Frimpong when he left.
Pretty sure barca were looking at him when he was 16 due to killing the u16s comps.