Premier League Wolves make surprise move for former Millwall, Crystal Palace and Portsmouth talent

The keeper has gone from League Two to the top flight of English football, agreeing a move to Wolves after leaving Northampton as a free agent.

It’s a big step up for the 28-year-old who went to Admiral Lord Nelson school and was part of the Blues’ academy set-up as a youngster.

King will go to Molineux ostensibly as back-up to Jose Sa and Dan Bentley, after he moved to Sixfields in January and helped his side to promotion following his exit from Salford.

The 6ft 4in man, who turned out for East Lodge locally, earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records in 2021 when he set a new world record for the longest goal scored in a football match.

His mammoth 96.01m effort came against former Pompey loanee Josh Griffiths, who was in goal for Cheltenham. Ironically, the new landmark beat the previous best set by another former Blues keeper in Asmir Begovic.

King spent time at Crystal Palace’s academy after leaving Pompey before earning a pro deal with Millwall, where he made 19 appearances before moving on to Newport Count and Salford.

He now will gear up for the new campaign at Wolves’ pre-season training camp in Portugal, with goalkeeping coach Tony Roberts familiar with King from their time together in the Wales international set-up.

Sporting director Matt Hobbs explained why they moved to bring in the Pompey fan.

He told Wolves’ official site: ‘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.’