Wolves attacker Sasa Kalajdzic has joined Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt on loan for the remainder of the 2023/24 campaign.
This season the Austrian has made a successful return from the serious knee injury suffered on his Old Gold debut in September 2022, featuring in 13 matches under Gary O’Neil and scoring three goals.
Two of those strikes were important late winners at Everton and AFC Bournemouth, but the 26-year-old has struggled for regular minutes, starting just one Premier League game and featuring only once during December, as a late substitute against Nottingham Forest.
With the need for more football paramount ahead of Euro 2024, Wolves have allowed Kalajdzic to return to the Bundesliga, where he previously impressed at VfB Stuttgart, from where he earned his Molineux move.
Sporting director Matt Hobbs said: “Sasa has been incredibly unlucky. He got injured on his debut having come back from a bad injury. He worked hard to get back fit, but the form of our forwards has meant his gametime has been limited. After the best part of two years out injured, the best thing for Sasa and us long-term is for him to go and get lots of football, in a league he knows well and one which is similar to the Premier League in terms of physicality and style of play.
“Sasa has shown he’s a natural finisher, but after his injuries, he needs to trust his body again. I hope he goes there and does really well, plays lots of games, and is able to help us next season.”
Kalajdzic moves just six days into the transfer window, after being named in the squad for Friday’s Emirates FA Cup tie at Brentford, but Hobbs revealed the personal reasons behind the timing of the departure.
“The human side comes into it because Sasa’s wife is due to give birth later this month, so if he was going to go out, it felt the right thing to do, to not delay and let them get settled with housing and hospitals, for example, ready for the birth of their child.
“He’s a great guy around the place. He’s frustrated, but he trains hard every day with a smile of his face. When that happens, and Sasa has the Euros and the baby coming up, delaying while we look for a replacement wouldn’t have been fair.”
Frankfurt are currently sat 6th in the German top flight, in the hunt for European football, and remain in the Europa Conference League, where they’ll face Union Saint-Gilloise in February.
