According to El Desmarque, Wolverhampton Wanderers are one of several Premier League clubs keen on Real Madrid youngster Vinicius Junior.
What’s the word?
It is thought that Chelsea could make a move for the winger after their transfer ban was lifted with Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Wolves all being mentioned too.
It remains to be seen if the La Liga giants will sell, but manager Zinedine Zidane would be able to call upon Eden Hazard and fellow Brazilian Rodrygo in the same role.
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Vinicius has somewhat struggled this season, scoring just two goals in 14 appearances across all competitions, per Transfermarkt.
The same website credits his current valuation at £45m while he cost Los Galacticos around £39.6m as a 16-year-old back in 2017.
Traore successor
Adama Traore has been in electric form this season with three goals, three assists and an average of 4.5 successful dribbles per match from his 16 Premier League outings and he now appears to be drawing attention from elsewhere.
Indeed, Football Insider recently reported that Traore was so impressive in his goal-grabbing display against Tottenham last time out that the Spurs players urged Jose Mourinho to pursue the former Boro man’s services after the match.
That could well result in something more formal during the coming transfer windows – whether from Spurs or somewhere else – and ultimately, the aforementioned report is a warning sign that Traore may well be prized from Molineux at some point in the near future.
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Albeit usually operating from the opposite side of attack, Vinicius represents a promising choice of successor. He has struggled to make an impact at the Bernabeu, managing only five La Liga starts this season, but he does share Traore’s capacity to beat a man with an average of 3.5 successful dribbles per 90 minutes.
He lacks Traore’s natural physicality, but that is compensated by enormous potential. The 19-year-old has been dubbed the ‘best young player in the world’ by fellow countryman Dani Alves while ex-Blancos forward Fernando Morientes believes he has the potential to become ‘world class’ in the future.
If Nuno Santo can bring in Vinicius now and start to unlock that potential, when Traore does depart the succession in Wolves’ attack would be a smooth one, with the young Brazilian able to provide a similar speedy and jinking presence.
Whether Wolves can fend off such competition for his signature though, remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Wolves could clinch this ‘Pogba-like’ midfielder in January…