Two Deadline Day Signings That Wolves should Complete
The runaway league leaders in the Championship have taken any issues in their stride and have gone about their job relentlessly to stride towards what appears will be a league title and a promotion to the Premier League.
However, there may be some tiredness in a squad which, despite being large, has been a tight one with all of the important league matches played by a group no bigger than 14 or 15 players since August, which takes its toll.
The reputation Wolves have is that they can spend big, however, I’m not certain whether they have limitless funds at all and I believe what has happened is simply that Nuno Espirito Santo has done the brave thing of spending the majority of his cash budget on one or two players he knows to be top class.
Ruben Neves, for example, cost the club £15.8million and has looked brilliant in the midfield, however, it must be remembered that the likes of Diogo Jota and Leo Bonatini are only here on loan while Barry Douglas and Rafa Mir were signed for less than £2million.
So, with that in mind, the club may need more cheap signings to bulk up the squad and here are two possible catches:
Chris Martin (Derby County)
It looked like a done deal last week that Martin would head to Sunderland in order to play every week and be the hero in their Championship survival. However, Wolves be destabilising that by continuing to intimate that they may be interested in Martin despite having both Bonatini and Rafa Mir for the No.9 position.
Mir is a permanent signing and will improve next season, while Martin is a different type of player altogether and can, therefore, give another option to Wolves.
Joao Carvalho (Benfica)
At just 20, the £13m-rated Carvalho has already achieved a lot but still has a way to go in the game. Being of Portuguese extraction, he is already a target for Wolves and one who should have no problem fitting in with manager Nuno Santo and players such as Roderick Miranda and Ruben Neves.
Two more of his colleagues, Helder Costa and Ivan Cavaleiro already take turns in occupying the right-wing spot in the Wolves team more often than not but Carvalho offers a little more in way of versatility. The young attacker can play anywhere across the attacking midfield or wing positions and would be of great benefit to a Wolves side about to embark on a Premier League journey.
He may be another player who could be open to a loan move, keeping Wolves’ costs down until the Premier League TV money rolls in.