Do you know that bookmakers wouldn’t even give you odds on Wes Hoolahan’s next club?
Of all the frustrations you’d face trying to convince the world that this man never got the appreciation he deserved, this is the final slap in the face.
You’d get the odds on Anthony Martial alright. Antoine Griezmann. You’d get them for Timo Werner and Alfie f**king Mawson but when you ask a bookie to give you a list and a ranking of probability for Wes Hoolahan’s next potential clubs, they’re not available.
One of the most technically gifted players Ireland has ever produced, a man who scored and assisted in two iconic passages of play at Euro 2016 and showed the younger players of today that there is a better way, he’s largely been condemned to the shadows throughout his career by managers who didn’t fancy the look of his physical make-up or didn’t like the audacity of his foot on the ball, threaded passes, trying to keep possession in areas designed for the desperate roar, “not there!”
But Hoolahan is off this summer, leaving Norwich through heartbreaking tears in an emotional goodbye speech after signing off with another goal and another assist.
Where to?
In 12 days time, Wes Hoolahan will celebrate his 36th birthday. You wouldn’t begrudge a man at that age a happy and peaceful retirement or a return to Dublin for a final fling with the League of Ireland but he’s still the same player, still measured, still calm, still precise as ever. Hoolahan hasn’t changed much for the man who was lighting up the Aviva so much so that Martin O’Neill couldn’t escape the clamours for him to play in every game. Physically, he’s still largely the same – he wasn’t exactly reliant on speed or strength – and technically, he’s still the same. That means he’s still good.
So he’s going to have options and, already, interested parties are circling.
SportsJOE understands that Steven Gerrard has been in contact with Wes Hoolahan about the possibility of bringing the attacking midfielder to Scotland. The Liverpool legend has taken over Rangers and is believed to have called Hoolahan to gauge his interest in playing in Ibrox.
Hoolahan, however, is said to have his heart set on a move away from Britain and Ireland to play football abroad.
Some talk has linked him with the MLS but the three-player cap on foreigners means fewer teams are likely to take a punt on a 36-year-old, even though he could still dictate a game, especially there.
You wouldn’t begrudge him a move to China either, a chance for a nice contract before he retires for good but there could also be the possibility of him ending up in Spain – a natural habitat in some ways for a man never understood as much as he should’ve been here.
