Wolves may have just passed up the next big thing

Football FanCast

By Billy Meyers

Published Feb 25, 2020

Wolves may have passed up the next big thing by choosing to delay a move for Bayer Leverkusen prospect Edmond Tapsoba.

According to David Ornstein, Wolves decided to delay a January swoop for Edmond Tapsoba until the summer with Willy Boly due to return, only for Bayer Leverkusen to steal in and sign the centre-back for €18m (£15m).

Who is he?

Well, Nuno Espirito Santo's side were ready to bid for the 21-year-old in January, having scouted Tapsoba for the past six months while he was playing for Vitoria Guimaraes.

However, when Boly returned from injury quicker than expected, Wolves decided that a summer move for the Burkina Faso defender might be better.

Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen weren't on a similar wavelength to Nuno's side, however, and saw enough to swoop for the youngster who already had five goals for the campaign from centre-back before his January transfer.

Wolves may have missed out on a gem

Since making the move to Bayer Leverkusen, Tapsoba has shone.

The German outfit's new No.12 has already made three Bundesliga starts, recording an eye-catching average of 104.3 passes per game from those outings with a success rate of 91.7%.

Additionally, Tapsoba helped Bayer Leverkusen shackle Erling Braut Håland in their 4-3 win over Borussia Dortmund recently, in which the Norwegian wonderkid only had one shot on target and 42 touches - the fewest of any Dortmund man to play the entire 90 minutes.

Incidentally, Leverkusen are the only Bundesliga side to stop the former Molde striker from scoring since his January switch from RB Salzburg - he has netted an astonishing nine goals in just six Bundesliga appearances already.

Given his efforts in shackling Håland, and his quite frankly absurd passing rate at such a young age, one can't help but feel that Wolves may have passed up the opportunity to sign a gem.