Wolverhampton Wanderers moved further up the Premier League table as they came away with a 2-1 win over Fulham at the Molineux on Saturday.
Gary O’Neil‘s side bounced back from their 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Newcastle United at St. James’ Park to secure all three points against Marco Silva’s side this weekend.
The former Bournemouth head coach has done a remarkable job since his arrival last summer, and deserves plenty of credit for getting the team firing this season.
It has been particularly impressive when you consider the context, as Wolves cashed in on a number of first-team stars during the summer transfer window to ease financial fair play concerns.
Matheus Nunes, Conor Coady, Raul Jimenez, Ruben Neves, Nathan Collins, and Ryan Giles were all sold, yet O’Neil has the side in eighth after 28 matches.
Not all of those players have gone on to be successful with their new clubs, though, as Collins, in particular, has struggled since his exit from Wolves, with his value dropping below Max Kilman‘s.
Nathan Collins’ Wolves career in numbers
In the summer of 2022, the club decided to swoop to sign the Irish central defender from Burnley for a reported fee of £20.5m, as Bruno Lage’s first signing of the window.
They took advantage of the Clarets’ relegation down to the Championship to secure his services, in an attempt to bolster their defensive options.
The 22-year-old titan went on to enjoy a solid, if unspectacular, campaign under Lage and Julen Lopetegui at the heart of the Wolves defence, as they avoided the drop from the Premier League to the second tier.
Collins featured in 26 top-flight matches for the Old Gold but was only selected as a starter in 19 of those games, as he failed to nail down a guaranteed spot in the first XI.
He was unable to stand out as one of the team’s top performers from a defensive perspective. The central defender ranked 12th within the squad for tackles (1.0) and fourth for interceptions (0.8) per game respectively, along with being 16th for average WhoScored rating (6.48).
His play in possession was equally as average. Collins ranked within the top 49% of Premier League centre-backs for progressive passes (3.18) per 90, and the top 43% for progressive carries (0.55) per 90.
This suggests that the Wolves titan was not an outstanding operator on the ball when it came to progressing play for his side. However, he was not below average in that regard either.
![[FBCharts] Nathan Collins](https://piglobalinvestments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/fbcharts-nathan-collins.png)
As you can see in the chart above, the Irish enforcer rarely made defensive errors, as he ranked within the top 17% of his positional peers for errors per 90.
Collins also managed to win the majority (55%) of his duels in the Premier League and did not make a single error that directly led to a goal for the opposition.
Overall, it was a respectable but unimpressive campaign with the club for the centre-back, which made it somewhat of a surprise when Brentford decided to splash the cash on him last summer.
Nathan Collins’ Brentford career in numbers
Thomas Frank’s side moved to sign the Ireland international from Wolves for a reported fee of £23m ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, which represented a £2.5m profit for the Old Gold on the £20.5m they paid Burnley for his signature just 12 months prior.
As it stands, it appears as though Brentford have had a howler with that transfer as Collins has endured a rough debut season with the Bees so far, which suggests that O’Neil’s team played a blinder with their decision to part ways with him.
The 22-year-old defender has featured in 22 Premier League matches – starting 20 – this term but has struggled badly in and out of possession, which has led to his market value dropping – now lower than Kilman’s.
Football Transfers currently has his Expected Transfer Value (xTV) at £19.7m, which is the lowest it has been since before his move to Wolves from Burnley in 2022.
|
Nathan Collins for Brentford |
|
|---|---|
|
23/24 Premier League (per 90) |
Percentile rank |
|
Progressive passes (3.42) |
Bottom 47% |
|
Progressive carries (0.29) |
Bottom 16% |
|
Pass accuracy (82%) |
Bottom 39% |
|
Shot-creating actions (0.78) |
Bottom 37% |
As you can see in the table above, the Brentford flop has been well below average in a number of important possession-based statistics, as he has rarely progressed the play or created dangerous attacks for his team.
Collins has also struggled defensively with a staggering four errors that have directly led to goals for the opposition in the Premier League – four more than he managed for Wolves last term.
In fact, he ranks within the bottom 4% of top-flight centre-backs for errors (0.20) per 90, which illustrates how much of a defensive liability the giant has been for the Bees.
Max Kilman’s current market value
Whilst Collins has been struggling with Brentford, Kilman has been in colossal form for Wolves at the heart of O’Neil’s defence in the Premier League this season.
At the time of writing (10/03/2024), Football Transfers has his current xTV at £22m, which is up from the £19.3m he was valued at in July of last year. This means that he is currently valued higher than his former central defensive teammate, when the opposite was true last July when the Irishman joined Brentford for £23m.
The English brute has started all 28 of his team’s top-flight matches this season and provided a consistent, solid, presence at the back for the Old Gold.
As you can see in the table above, Kilman has outperformed the former Wolves defender in a number of key statistics, with four fewer errors (zero) in six more appearances in the Premier League.
The left-footed colossus has been aerially dominant against opposition forwards and recovered the ball more frequently for his side, which suggests that the 26-year-old ace has been the better of the two players this season.
That is reflected in their contrasting fluctuations in value since last summer, which also shows that Wolves had a blinder by selling Collins to Brentford for £23m as he has flopped with Frank’s side so far.