Wolves have defended their decision to loan Adama Traore to Barcelona even though the Spanish giants may not be able to afford to buy the winger.
Barca loaned Traore from Wolves in January and have a £29million option to buy him this summer, when the ace will have just one year left on his Molineux contract. The rapid winger has made 154 appearances for the Black Country club but opted to return to Barca, where he was a trainee previously, instead of a potential move to Tottenham, who bid £15m.
Traore,26, has four assists in ten appearances already for Barca who beat La Liga leaders Real Madrid 4-0 in their last game. But Wolves technical director Scott Sellars insists they had to offload Traore as he refused to sign a new deal.
And he suggested another club could always buy Traore instead this summer after Barca president Joan Laporta admitted the Spanish club may not due to their difficult financial situation.
Sellars explained: "He was offered a contract, wouldn't sign it, so we have to look elsewhere. If a player doesn't want to be here then I'd rather we focus on helping the ones that do want to be here.
"There's no obligation but there's an option to buy. If Barcelona can struggle financially then that situation is across football at the moment. But we felt it was a great opportunity for Adama to play for Barcelona and be successful and promote himself.
"Adama didn’t want to sign a contract at Wolves, so it was the right deal for all parties. A good deal is a deal that is good for the club, good for the player and his agent and for the club he is going to.
"We had to look at the situation with Adama. He wasn't playing every week and we had players returning from injury. We knew for a few weeks we would find it tough but once we got the players back we'd be fine.
"You'll never have the perfect scenario in every transfer and not every player will always be on the right contract or leaving at the right time. Adama has been offered a really good contract, he decided he didn't want to stay and that's his decision. That's up to him and fair enough, we don't fall out about it.
"Adama has always given everything he has, even when he's turned down his contract he's never waned from being at his maximum in training. As a human being he is different class, is well respected and well liked, but we have to respect that he doesn't want to sign a new contract."
