Wolves have confirmed the signing of Craig Dawson on a two-and-a-half-year deal worth £3.3million from West Ham.
The 32-year-old defender, who is originally from the north-west of England, was eager to sign for Wolves as he wanted to move nearer home for family reasons.
He came close to joining Wolves on deadline day last September but a deal fell through. But, the club have confirmed he will joining the Wanderers this season.
The confirmation of Dawson's deal comes days after David Moyes vented his frustration over the manor in which Wolves conducted their pursuit of the 32-year-old.
Speaking ahead of West Ham's clash with Wolves, Moyes said: 'I might bid for one of them after the game and see how it goes.
'Is it destabilising? By the way it is, yeah. Let's be fair, Wolves tried to buy Daws in the summer and we said no at that time.'
Nevertheless, Wolves managed to secure a deal with West Ham over the signing of Dawson - who has made eight Premier League appearances this season.
Speaking about the signing of Dawson, Sporting Director Matt Hobbs said: 'In my first interview, I talked about players who know the league are important. Personalities are important. We lost a few leaders in the summer with John [Ruddy], Conor [Coady] and Romain [Saiss].
'We're bringing another leader into the group, which is always a positive, but if you look at our centre backs, they're all relatively young, not just in age, but also the number of games they've played in English league football, let alone the Premier League.
'The amount of games Craig has played, he can be a foil for those guys on and off the pitch. He's going to be a very good player for our squad and will be someone our young centre halves will learn a lot from and will help develop those players.'
Hobbs went on to speak about how Dawson would strengthen their defensive line. He said: 'We want to get Yerson [Mosquera] out on loan, to start getting some games. The manager has real belief in him and the tools he has.
'We brought him in, and he was unlucky with his two hamstring injuries, and then it wasn't a great time to drop an inexperienced defender back into the team.
'He's been a victim of circumstances, so for us it's important to get him out on loan, so the fact we bring Craig in to be the player he'll be, but also help the defenders in the building and allow Yerson to go out on loan is great for the football club.'
Hobbs also spoke about Dawson's relationship with Julen Lopetegui. He said: 'He was on our list from before, but he also played against Julen last season for West Ham against Sevilla.
'He's a player Julen knew very well, so, like the players we've managed to do so far, it was a very quick discussion on Craig from both of our sides.'
TheBigHammer
1
Thank you, Craig Dawson, for three great years at West Ham. Big Daws really solidified a shaky defence and was always putting his body on the line to block shots and foil attacks. Scored some valuable goals, too. I know he’s moving for family reasons, and you can’t blame him for that, but he will be a great loss to the team. Thanks for the memories!