Wolverhampton Wanderers are ready to take on the 2024/25 Premier League campaign. The backline might need a bit more work but there's enough there to fill Gary O'Neil and the club's many supporters with optimism.
Pedro Neto's £54m sale to Chelsea this week does hand the Old Gold some financial leeway, and while that defensive line still needs some work, there's no doubt that landing another wide forward to replace the Portuguese talent wouldn't go amiss.
Wolves transfer news
According to Sport over in Spain, Wolves are a shock contender to sign Ansu Fati from Barcelona this summer. The winger is surplus to requirements at Camp Nou and his sale would help the financially-stricken giants in strengthening their frontline.
Having completed a middling loan spell with Brighton & Hove Albion last year, Fati proved that he has what it takes to succeed in the Premier League, albeit being pulled back by injuries that have marred his once-prodigious development.
But Molineux could present the perfect conditions for the 21-year-old to rebuild his career, with his agent Jorge Mendes looking at multiple suitors and willing to engineer an initial loan stint with a buy clause inserted.
Why Ansu Fati could be the perfect Neto replacement
Neto is undoubtedly a first-class winger, easily Wolves' most technically talented star last year, but for a player who averaged 15 top-flight stats per season to be sold for £54m is something of a no-brainer.
2023/24
20
18
2
9
2022/23
18
13
0
0
2021/22
13
5
1
1
2020/21
31
30
5
6
2019/20
29
9
3
3
Fati, while hardly free of fitness setbacks himself, could fill that Neto-shaped hole with his fleet movements and ability to blend into various attacking combinations has led former Barca boss Xavi to praise his "extraordinary" potential.
While only scoring four goals and adding one assist across 30 matches for the Seagulls, Fati was only handed nine starting berths across all competitions, and deeper statistical analysis suggests that he could bear fruit in a second shot at English football.
As per FBref, Fati ranks among the top 11% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for goals, the top 1% for shots taken per 90 and the top 1% for pass completion.
Speaking of an innate goalscoring quality and technical sharpness that could reap rewards for Wolves, completing a deal for this talent could be a masterstroke in hindsight, and O'Neil must fiercely consider landing him instead of fellow target Yoane Wissa.
How Fati compares to Wissa
Wissa has perhaps gone under the radar at Brentford, with the DR Congo international not quite viewed in the same breath as Bryan Mbeumo or Ivan Toney but still forming a crucial part of Thomas Frank's frontline.
A tenacious and versatile forward, Wissa has been a constant threat throughout three terms in the English top flight, signed from French side Lorient for £8.5m in 2021, shortly after the Bees' promotion from the Championship.
The Athletic's Jay Harris called him "simply incredible" last year and his seven-goal (x2) and 12-goal (last season) returns in the Premier League have highlighted a clinical quality that a team like Wolves could really benefit from.
According to The Telegraph's Mike McGrath, Wissa is among the options at Molineux following Neto's sale, with funds readied to launch at such a player, whose dynamism fits into the mould of the Portuguese's multi-functioning wide role.
But in Fati, six years younger than the Brentford man, O'Neil could have a weapon of mass destruction in his grasp, possibly requiring awhile to revivify his teenage talent – talent that led Xavi to also laud him as a "generational player".
Moreover, Fati still proved himself prolific last season, as FBref's data crunch will tell you. Just imagine the kind of quality that could be bestowed on the outfit if injury issues are put firmly to bed.
His £160k-per-week wages with La Blaugrana might seem to present an issue, but Brighton only paid £128k-per-week last year, and while Wolves' top earners pocket £90k per week, the Spain international's bleak few years could convince him to take a reduction and repurpose his career as a highly-rated forward.
1.
Ivan Toney
83
36
2.
Yoane Wissa
102
26
3.
Bryan Mbeumo
98
22
4.
Mathias Jensen
100
8
4.
Vitaly Janelt
104
8
Wissa would be a safer pick, but let's make no mistake: he's a good player, with stripes earned and pinned in the Premier League. The £25k-per-week ace even ranked among 15% of attacking midfielders and wingers in the league last year for goals scored and aerial won per 90, shining a light on the clinical edge and robust body that would be cast into Wolves' attack.
But, again, let's consider the possibilities. Fati has proved himself as something rather special, walking into life on the senior stage with a strut in his step, scoring eight goals from 33 matches in 2019/20 as a 16-year-old.
Injuries have truly wrecked his chances of standing in his early 20s as one of Europe's most exciting players in a generation, but the talent is there nonetheless, latent, waiting to be channelled.
It might seem overambitious to imagine such a player could join Wolves, and not try his hand with an outfit in the Champions League, but his time at Brighton proved that he needs such a ground to host his potential and allow it to bloom.
Wolves simply have to move for Fati over players like Wissa. Talented as the Brentford star may be, he's not going to rise to the highest level of football, whereas Barcelona's wayward prodigy – who once inherited Lionel Messi's number ten shirt at Camp Nou – could restore his giddy potential and lift the Old Gold with him.
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