Strand Larsen regret manifested by Shearer, Man Utd teen, Woltemade, Isak and Wolves jeers

Nearly four months on from Wolves rejecting a £55m bid from Newcastle, with the sound of his own fans’ sarcastic jeers and the comments of a legendary Premier League striker and a far from legendary Premier League striker ringing in his ears, having been “bullied” by a Manchester United teenager, Jorgen Strand Larsen must be cursing his decision to ‘not agitate for a move’ to St James’ Park.

How we all laughed when Newcastle appeared to exhaust their list of top striker targets and offered £45m, then £50m and finally £55m for the 25-year-old before what now looks like an ill-advised rejection by Wolves saw them move further down their B-list and pay £69m for Nick Woltemade , though there were conflicting reports at the time as to whether Strand Larsen was his or Yoane Wissa’s alternative.

After just one Premier League goal in 13 games having signed a new five-year contract in September, Strand-Larsen left the pitch against Manchester United to sarcastic cheers and applause from the Molineux crowd on Monday.

“I just said: ‘look, stay positive and don’t react now’,” Rob Edwards said after he was asked about the crowd reaction. “It will hurt him. He’s proud, he’s one of the lads that was really speaking before the game, in the huddle, in the changing room and he’s really passionate and spoke really well.

“He is trying. It wasn’t that long ago, against Aston Villa, when I thought he was brilliant, he really was.

“It was a difficult night tonight, So I just told him: ‘it’s difficult now I know that, but keep your head down’.”

It will be impossible for Strand Larsen not to reflect on his decision to be The Good Guy and refuse to agitate for a move like Alexander Isak, or indeed Wissa, who’s now playing for Newcastle, where Woltemade has quickly become a cult hero while he’s mercilessly mocked by the Wolves fans who he may well feel owe him a debt of gratitude, not only for staying in the summer but for them being a Premier League club for one more season after his 14 goals last term.

But it’s hard to root for a supposed £60m striker being “bullied” by a Manchester United teenager making just their fourth Premier League start.

“Strand Larsen, to be fair to him, last year he got 14 Premier League goals and I thought ‘Ok, decent’. In a Wolves side that’s a decent return,” Darren Bent said on talkSPORT .

“This season, he’s looked so far off it. No urgency, he’s massive but he’s weak. The Man United defender is [Ayden] Heaven and I’m thinking if I was in that scenario, you almost pick on the lesser experienced defender. You attach yourself to him, because you go right, I can roll with him, not take the mick, but you can dictate him to what you want to do.

“Heaven was bullying him. He got onto Shaw, Shaw bullies him. Mazraoui bullies him.”

We can only hope that Strand Larsen is heeding his manager’s advice in ‘keeping your head down’ and that that endeavour extends to a temptation we know we would fail to avoid in googling or searching his name on social media. Because what you don’t want to be hearing is Alan Shearer cheering his beloved Newcastle’s failed bid as a lucky escape.

“Newcastle had a bid turned down for Strand Larsen,” Shearer said. “I’ve not seen anything this season, and it might be unfair on him, I guess, but I’ve not seen anything to suggest that that money would have been well spent.”

There’s a lesson in this season: if you’re agitating for a move it should be to Newcastle, not from them.