Wolves have signed experienced EFL goalkeeper Tom King to add depth to the Old Gold’s goalkeeping department.
The 28-year-old, who turned out for Northampton Town last season, arrives on a free transfer and brings a wealth of experience to Molineux having made more than 200 appearances across his previous spells in the football league.
A former England under-17 international, King grew up in Gibraltar but started his career with Millwall, playing 19 times for the Lions, while also enjoying stints on loan at Welling United, Braintree Town, Stevenage and AFC Wimbledon.
King made the move to Newport County in the summer of 2019, where he made almost 50 appearances during two seasons at Rodney Parade, earning plaudits in the September for keeping five clean sheets and going more than 500 minutes without conceding a goal.
He also entered the Guinness Book of Records in January 2021 for scoring the longest ever goal. From a distance of 96.01 metres, King launched the ball from his own penalty area towards the Cheltenham Town goal which looped over his opposite number – taking the record from Asmir Begovic, who netted a 91.9m effort for Stoke City against Southampton seven years previously.
During his time at Newport, he was called up to the Wales national team having qualified for the country as his mother was born in Cardiff. Working alongside Wolves’ current goalkeeping coach Tony Roberts, King was in the Wales squad for their Euro 2020 qualifying matches against Azerbaijan and Hungary, before another call-up followed for the international fixtures in September 2021.
King has spent the last two years with Salford City and Northampton, stepping out between the sticks more than 70 times over that period, and now moves to Molineux to support Jose Sa and Dan Bentley.
Sporting director Matt Hobbs said: “Tony wanted to add an experienced number three to the goalkeeper group and Tom is a player who has played a lot of league games, has a great stature, good physicality and plenty of experience from his previous clubs.
“With this experience he will be able to help our younger goalkeepers develop, while also allowing those who need senior football the opportunity to gain it out on loan rather than keeping them around the club as back-up to Jose and Dan.
“To be able to get a player like Tom on a free was really pleasing as he not only adds further depth to the goalkeeping contingent already in place at the club but having previously worked with Tony within the Wales set-up, he knows the type of personality and character Tom will bring to the squad, so we all look forward to working with him.”
