Wolves sign Hunt

Republic of Ireland international Stephen Hunt has joined Wolverhampton Wanderers for an undisclosed fee, the Premier League club anounced Monday.

Former Republic boss Mick McCarthy has long been keen on bringing Hunt to Molineux and finally secured the services of the 28-year-old forward on a three-year deal nearly a year after first showing an interest in him.

Formerly with Hull, relegated from the top flight last term, and having also suffered demotion with Reading, Hunt is looking forward to life with Wolves, even though a foot injury will rule him out of the start of the season.

“When Wolves came in, and obviously I’m not fit yet, they put so much faith in me and you think ‘to be honest they really want me and I really want to go there’,” Hunt said.

“I always wanted to come here anyway, it’s job done to an extent.

“I spoke to Mick when I got permission to speak, he really wanted me so that helps but I’ve got competition here.”

He added: “Obviously Hull are not in the Premier League any more and having spoken to the chief executive and the manager more importantly, I was convinced to come here.

Hunt will be joining up with former Reading team-mates Kevin Doyle and Marcus Hahnemann.

“Having Kevin Doyle and Marcus Hahnemann here – they’re the two obvious ones,” he said.

“But I know Andy Keogh, Kevin Foley, Stephen Ward (from international duty) and hopefully I’ll get to know the rest of the players well too.

“Hopefully I can score the same amount of goals if not more if I stay injury free and set up a few goals for Doyler or whoever’s playing up front, that’s my job to get plenty of crosses into the box.”