Why Roderick Miranda Would Be A Great Signing For Wolves
Rumours abound that Portuguese centre-back Roderick Miranda is about to sign for Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Rio Ave defender looks sure to join after his Primeira Liga club accepted an offer from the West Midlands outfit in recent days of about £2.5million. Richard Stearman has gone back to Fulham after the expiry of his loan deal and the club have allowed former Newcastle defender Mike Williamson to leave, meaning they are currently short of central defensive options.
As yet, Danny Batth is not certain to stay at the club either, after his excellent season potentially attracting many suitors. Signing Miranda would plug an obvious gap then in the Wolves squad, and the big man has played 79 times in Portugal’s top tier to date so he would bring reasonable experience with him.
Links with Portugal are expected to continue at Wolves as Nuno Espirito Santo has now taken over as manager of the club following the departure of Paul Lambert at the close of last season. Currently, ex-Benfica trio Helder Costa, Ivan Cavaleiro and Silvio are all on the books at Molineux and as it happens, Miranda spent time at the Eagles too.
Miranda’s quality is not in doubt and given the new management structure, his presence may just be what Wolves need right now. Having chosen a Portuguese coach, the club know he will need allies and as such more players from the Iberian Peninsula can be expected over the next year or so.
In his 33 league games last season for Rio Ave, Miranda scored 3 goals and made 2 assists from centre-back. He won 1.6 aerial battles per game, along with 1.2 tackles, 2.2 interceptions, 0.5 blocks and 3.9 clearances. So certainly, he did his job well. His pass completion rate, though typically good in Portugal, stands out at almost 84% and he may bring some calmness and class to the Wolves line-up.
It may be all change at Wolverhampton Wanderers in the coming months and I’ll venture to suggest that not all of the change will be good. The fans will certainly vent their fury if things continue to go backwards at Molineux, especially with things potentially improving over at Birmingham City and Aston Villa, and West Brom doing so well in the Premier League.
In the case of Miranda though, his signing must be seen as a good move and the Wolves fans should have faith in it.