Just Who Are The Quality Additions?

[Very Proud (AKA Still Proud)]

Assuming we are in a position to spend somewhere between £90m - £120m who are the players we should be realistically targeting as our quality additions?

I've seen the rumours threads and have to admit that when a name pops up more likely than not I've never heard of them before and have to go and do the usual research. So if I was asked to fill the following positions I really wouldn't know where to start and have come to rely on the knowledge on this board. So who do we think are realistic options for:

Centre-back
Wing Back
Centre-mid
Centre-forward

 

[Perton Wolf]

Assuming we are in a position to spend somewhere between £90m - £120m who are the players we should be realistically targeting as our quality additions?

I've seen the rumours threads and have to admit that when a name pops up more likely than not I've never heard of them before and have to go and do the usual research. So if I was asked to fill the following positions I really wouldn't know where to start and have come to rely on the knowledge on this board. So who do we think are realistic options for:

Centre-back
Wing Back
Centre-mid
Centre-forward

I think that's a fair list. Dias is the obvious target at CB, obviously wouldn't come cheap but if we want to keep progressing then we can't be afraid to spend the required funds.

I thought Vinagre played well last night but don't have confidence in him being the starter every week while Jonny is out for the first 5 months of next season. The lad Ghoulam from Napoli who has been mentioned, would be decent in a fairly low price deal. Only issue is that he's had some problems with injuries but you would hope that our excellent medical team would be able to remedy that.

Vital we get a CAM type player in too, we really need somebody who can sit in the hole between the midfield and the attack. We badly lack creativity in central areas as Neves isn't allowed to get forward enough to substantially impact things in the opponent's final third.

A Centre Forward for cup games and rotational purposes if we keep Raul, goes without saying. I still think we could do worse than Oliveria from AEK Athens.

 

[goldfish]

I think we'll continue to buy players in the £12-£20m price bracket from the second tier of European leagues: Greece, Portugal, etc; supplemented by players who're outside first team squads in the Spanish and Italian leagues. I really don't know enough about those leagues to say who we should or might go for. Agree with Very Proud about the four positions which need first-team challengers: I'd say we also need a promising squad filler in central midfield, unless I'm wrong about Gibbs-White reaching the end of his Mol career.

 

[kennyB]

Some real competition for places required but I have no idea who they might be.

 

[moseleyite]

I think we'll continue to buy players in the £12-£20m price bracket [...]

Probably true, it's what we do. If somebody outstanding becomes available in the 20-30 bracket then perhaps a little more but I don't see us changing our operating model in the near future.

 

[WolfLing]

Just go all out for high quality free agents and spend the money on their salaries.

Edison Cavani - Centre Forward - £250k p.w. 2 yr contract (£26m)
Mario Gotze - Attacking Midfield - £150k p.w. 3 year contract (£23.4m)
Malang Sarr - Left Sided Centre Back - £75k p.w. 5 year contract (£19.5m)

Then buy Ghoulam from Napoli and Corona from Porto too.

Will never happen, but would certainly improve our first XI and squad.

 

[SanFranWolf]

Ruben Dias - top of the list.

 

[Lisas Husband]

Just go all out for high quality free agents and spend the money on their salaries.

Edison Cavani - Centre Forward - £250k p.w. 2 yr contract (£26m)
Mario Gotze - Attacking Midfield - £150k p.w. 3 year contract (£23.4m)
Malang Sarr - Left Sided Centre Back - £75k p.w. 5 year contract (£19.5m)

Then buy Ghoulam from Napoli and Corona from Porto too.

Will never happen, but would certainly improve our first XI and squad.

But would it upset the dressing room?
Some of our established players might be a little 'miffed' if others are getting that sort of money.

 

[reanswolf]

Midfielder has to be top priority for me.

 

[crocos]

Personally I've little desire for players like Cavani etc to be joining us - unless they're utter pros like our Mouts, it'll run counter to everything we stand for IMO.

 

[Metal Wolf89]

But would it upset the dressing room?
Some of our established players might be a little 'miffed' if others are getting that sort of money.

Work harder to prove you deserve a new contract then.

 

[Deleted member 5635]

Any use of the word cover should be banned, if you want to improve you try and buy better than you have otherwise you wont improve.

If you can improve on a player and it is affordable it should be done no matter how sentimental you are.
There should be no sentiment in football if you want to be the best you can.

 

[Olivergoldblack]

Midfielder has to be top priority for me.

An absolutely top notch cm to replace moutinho and free up neves, couple of wingbacks for stronger competition and to cover Jonny's injury. Need to keep Jimenez at all costs and get him a decent strike partner if poss unless we can get jotas act together.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Any use of the word cover should be banned, if you want to improve you try and buy better than you have otherwise you wont improve.

If you can improve on a player and it is affordable it should be done no matter how sentimental you are.
There should be no sentiment in football if you want to be the best you can.

Agree with this. How good would we be if 4 or 5 of last night's team could only make the bench?

 

[Goodbye Horse]

Nuno asked for quality additions last season and also mentioned the need to improve last night. I'm concerned that if his concerns about squad quality are not seriously looked at, there could be problems with his upcoming contract renewal.

 

[Deleted member 5635]

Agree with this. How good would we be if 4 or 5 of last night's team could only make the bench?

Unfortunately sentiment is a big thing with a few on here. They would still have Edwards and Batth playing if it was down to them.

 

[Deleted member 5635]

Nuno asked for quality additions last season and also mentioned the need to improve last night. I'm concerned that if his concerns about squad quality are not seriously looked at, there could be problems with his upcoming contract renewal.

You cant say that on here

 

[Goodbye Horse]

Dicing with the wrath of the Molineux Mix mafia!

 

[Cornwall Wolf]

We dont need players for cover .. we need signings for first team .. Saiss Dendonker Doherty should be cover on the bench .. we need to improve first team not bench

 

[rincewind]

Would people be happy if we brought it the 2 young Portuguese lads and a couple of others, more experienced players. Fabio Silva in particular is a real talent but needs another season as a squad player but would surely be ready to give Raul a rest later in games.

 

[JOSWolf]

Nuno asked for quality additions last season and also mentioned the need to improve last night. I'm concerned that if his concerns about squad quality are not seriously looked at, there could be problems with his upcoming contract renewal.

Totally agree.

 

[JOSWolf]

You cant say that on here

Get set for plenty of personal insults to come your way!

 

[Wolf316]

But would it upset the dressing room?
Some of our established players might be a little 'miffed' if others are getting that sort of money.

Free transfers though.

 

[those were the days]

Assuming we are in a position to spend somewhere between £90m - £120m who are the players we should be realistically targeting as our quality additions?

I've seen the rumours threads and have to admit that when a name pops up more likely than not I've never heard of them before and have to go and do the usual research. So if I was asked to fill the following positions I really wouldn't know where to start and have come to rely on the knowledge on this board. So who do we think are realistic options for:

Centre-back
Wing Back
Centre-mid
Centre-forward

To spend that much, we'd almost certainly have to sell a player or two to raise some funds and stay the right side of FFP. I don't for one minute think we should overhaul the squad but a bit of smart trading could leave the squad better placed for next year.

It's worth checking out Sevilla's squad last season as only 2 of their starting XI last night (Banega and Navas) were there last season and it's a very extreme case of evolving the squad through clever player trading
Sevilla 2018/19 squad appearances

What Sevilla did was buy a lot of players (Carlos, Ocampos, Kounde, Jordan, En-Nesyri, Fernando, De Jong) for between £10-20m and use the loan market very smartly (Reguilon, Suso, Bono). They lost some big name players in the summer like Wissam Ben Yedder, Luis Muriel, Pablo Sarabia and Quincy Promes but, nethertheless, managed to expand the squad, increase the average quality level and increase squad market value all on a net spend of around £40m
Sevilla ins and outs in summer 2019
There were a relatively small number of misses amongst the players they brought in but these were quickly either on-sold or loaned out (e.g. Lopes, Wober, Dabbur)

Again, I'm not for one minute suggesting we need to overhaul the squad like Sevilla did but to progress to the next level we do need to spend a fair bit and bring in quite a few more players. In order to do this and stay the right side of FFP we shouldn't be fearful about one or perhaps two moving on for big fees so we can re-invest smartly, a Sevilla-lite summer 2020 transfer window if you like!

 

[Very Proud (AKA Still Proud)]

Would people be happy if we brought it the 2 young Portuguese lads and a couple of others, more experienced players. Fabio Silva in particular is a real talent but needs another season as a squad player but would surely be ready to give Raul a rest later in games.

It's a good point but the price/deal would need to be right. If Silva came in along with Dias that would eat up a significant amount of the budget. If we can get a decent centre-mid on a loan to buy then maybe. The problem is that Raul would still have two young under-studies and not real competition.

 

[derbyrameater]

I keep reading on MM that we are restrained from spending due to breaking FFP (or whatever it's called),

If true how much can Wolves spend for next season ?

 

[Eddie's Eagle]

Additions to the squad will depend on our ambition.

Covid19 might ultimately determine what business is possibly in this uncertain economic marketplace, however, if we want to improve and push for 5th / 4th then I think that we need to improve the first 11 (and in turn increase the squad size in certain areas). For me, we should look improve on Sais with a world class CB; better wing backs (RWB priority); competition for Moutinho and an improvement on Dendoncker, and competition for Jimenez.

I hate to say this, but when our 3rd season of PL is completed, we should assess the positions for Coady and Jota. For Coady, this is less about the player and the massive strides he has made, but more about the necessity of his position and the formation. With Jota, his inconsistency is becoming a problem.

I love all of the players in our first team squad, and just to be clear, I think Moutinho is the best midfielder I have seen in a Wolves shirt but we now need to look after him. Also, Sais, Doherty and Dendoncker are very good players but they may have hit their ceiling - squad players certainly.

It's an amazing time to be a Wolves fan. I never believed we would have players of this ability at my club.

 

[MacTrizzle]

Nuno asked for quality additions last season and also mentioned the need to improve last night. I'm concerned that if his concerns about squad quality are not seriously looked at, there could be problems with his upcoming contract renewal.

yep.

make no mistake him signing the contract will be on the basis of massive investment

if they can’t agree to that he will be off

 

[Bangla Wolf]

If we want to emulate our Europa opponents, we need to pick up similar to the big Olympiakos centre half, Pape Abou Cisse, and the Sevilla #10, EvaBanega. A Mason Greenwood type would be lovely on the shopping list as well.

 

[modenawolf]

Just go all out for high quality free agents and spend the money on their salaries.

Edison Cavani - Centre Forward - £250k p.w. 2 yr contract (£26m)
Mario Gotze - Attacking Midfield - £150k p.w. 3 year contract (£23.4m)
Malang Sarr - Left Sided Centre Back - £75k p.w. 5 year contract (£19.5m)

Then buy Ghoulam from Napoli and Corona from Porto too.

Will never happen, but would certainly improve our first XI and squad.

The problem with dishing out big salaries is that it potentially upsets the rest of the team, particularly if there are wage structures in play. It can work if you're bringing in a model pro who instantly raises the bar inside the dressing room, but I would imagine that more often than not it just leads to resentment and unrest.

 

[Deleted member 5635]

I keep reading on MM that we are restrained from spending due to breaking FFP (or whatever it's called),

If true how much can Wolves spend for next season ?

Not at all as we are not in Europe. We broke the European rules not the premier league ones.

 

[modenawolf]

If we want to emulate our Europa opponents, we need to pick up similar to the big Olympiakos centre half, Pape Abou Cisse, and the Sevilla #10, EvaBanega. A Mason Greenwood type would be lovely on the shopping list as well.

I like Cissé too; I believe we were linked with him last summer as well. Banega is quality but I heard / read somewhere that he's off to the Middle East at the end of the season for one final payday.

I think what these recent games against Olympiacos and Sevilla have shown us however is that there are quality, technically gifted players out there, many of whom we've hardly heard of before. The really challenge is finding the ones that tick all of the boxes that Nuno is looking for, without paying silly money for them.

 

[those were the days]

If we want to emulate our Europa opponents, we need to pick up similar to the big Olympiakos centre half, Pape Abou Cisse, and the Sevilla #10, EvaBanega. A Mason Greenwood type would be lovely on the shopping list as well.

Banega's a quality player who's won the Europa League twice with Sevilla and I wouldn't bet against him making it three. He's off to Al Shabab in Saudi Arabia at the end of the season which is a bit of an odd one as he's recently 32 and likely has a few more years left at the highest level but there you go.

 

[Deleted member 11332]

Purely who I would go for.

Centre-back: Todibo
Wing Back: Jesus Corona
Centre-mid: Morgan Sanson
Centre-forward: Rafa Leao

 

[AndyWolves]

Robin Koch
Paulinha
Jesus Corona
Fabio Silva

100m should cover it

 

[Derbywolf85]

To spend that much, we'd almost certainly have to sell a player or two to raise some funds and stay the right side of FFP. I don't for one minute think we should overhaul the squad but a bit of smart trading could leave the squad better placed for next year.

It's worth checking out Sevilla's squad last season as only 2 of their starting XI last night (Banega and Navas) were there last season and it's a very extreme case of evolving the squad through clever player trading
Sevilla 2018/19 squad appearances

What Sevilla did was buy a lot of players (Carlos, Ocampos, Kounde, Jordan, En-Nesyri, Fernando, De Jong) for between £10-20m and use the loan market very smartly (Reguilon, Suso, Bono). They lost some big name players in the summer like Wissam Ben Yedder, Luis Muriel, Pablo Sarabia and Quincy Promes but, nethertheless, managed to expand the squad, increase the average quality level and increase squad market value all on a net spend of around £40m
Sevilla ins and outs in summer 2019
There were a relatively small number of misses amongst the players they brought in but these were quickly either on-sold or loaned out (e.g. Lopes, Wober, Dabbur)

Again, I'm not for one minute suggesting we need to overhaul the squad like Sevilla did but to progress to the next level we do need to spend a fair bit and bring in quite a few more players. In order to do this and stay the right side of FFP we shouldn't be fearful about one or perhaps two moving on for big fees so we can re-invest smartly, a Sevilla-lite summer 2020 transfer window if you like!

See my post in the PLayers Leaving thread - we have £56m coming IN from Cav, Costa and Cutrone as well as PL money, EL money and money from sales of players like Bennett, who will undoubtedly be off. We do not need to sell to spend.

 

[Deleted member 11332]

Just go all out for high quality free agents and spend the money on their salaries.

Edison Cavani - Centre Forward - £250k p.w. 2 yr contract (£26m)
Mario Gotze - Attacking Midfield - £150k p.w. 3 year contract (£23.4m)
Malang Sarr - Left Sided Centre Back - £75k p.w. 5 year contract (£19.5m)

Then buy Ghoulam from Napoli and Corona from Porto too.

Will never happen, but would certainly improve our first XI and squad.

We would need to change to 2 up front permanently to get Cavani in.
Gotze is finished
Sarr I haven't seen enough of him to be able to give a valid opinion the other 2 would do but again Ghoulam is broken.

 

[bennymacca]

Assuming we are in a position to spend somewhere between £90m - £120m who are the players we should be realistically targeting as our quality additions?

I've seen the rumours threads and have to admit that when a name pops up more likely than not I've never heard of them before and have to go and do the usual research. So if I was asked to fill the following positions I really wouldn't know where to start and have come to rely on the knowledge on this board. So who do we think are realistic options for:

Centre-back
Wing Back
Centre-mid
Centre-forward

totally agree.

Centre back- its crystal clear Nuno is using Saiss to fill a hole because he wants more than Bennett could offer. Ruben Dias or Diego Leite?
Wing Back - is a knife edge. Vinagre and Doherty only have senior back up from Adama. One suspension or injury away from no cover. Max Aarons? Telles? or go back for Zinchenko?
Centre-mid - Kessie or Renato Sanchez?
Centre-forward - Fabio Silva. Needs to be young and prodigiously talented but able to fill in just like VInagre. I would be concerned if I was Raul and the competition was more direct.
There you go - £150M, at least.

 

[Derbywolf85]

CB - Dias or Leite

RWB - Max Aarons/Jesus Corona

LWB - Dwight McNeil

CM - Difficult. Torn between a beast (Danilo) or someone who can pick up the ball, turn and run with it to get us 20 yards up the pitch (???)

ST - Fabio Silva does fit the bill superbly. Young, space for growth, Portuguese. But wouldn't be surprised if the link to Jhon Cordoba is real.

Any thoughts on who tht ball carrying CM could be?

 

[Skrilla]

The four positions I think we need to improve the most (in order): CB, ST, LWB, CM.

Based on who we've been linked with fairly recently, let's say we go after:

• CB - Ruben Dias (€40m)
• ST - Fabio Silva (€30m)
• LWB - Dwight McNeil (£30m)
• CM - Joao Palhinha (€20m)

Patricio
Boly Coady Dias
Doherty Neves Palhinha McNeil
Traore Jimenez Podence
​

Subs: Ruddy, Saiss, Dendoncker, Moutinho, Jota, Neto, Silva.

That's just purely hypothetical, but I do think we'll spend a substantial amount this summer on players that 'fit the profile', young and talented with potential resale value down the line.

By retaining our best players, and signing players that can directly improve us, the strength of our bench will improve significantly, giving Nuno far more options to change games and make a push for the top six.