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This article is part of Football FanCast's Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers...

One of Wolves’ summer arrivals could be on the fringes of the first-team sometime soon, that’s according to their Under-23 manager Rob Edwards.

What’s he said?

The west Midlands club signed Meritan Shabani on a three-year contract from Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich for their youth team, and it appears he’s already been impressing.

The 20-year-old made three senior appearances in Bavaria, two coming in the league and has been capped at Under-20 level for Germany.

His arrival was undoubtedly part of Fosun’s plans to improve the youth setup at the club.

In four Premier League 2 matches this season, the midfielder has scored one goal, shining in the eyes of Edwards, who said:

“Meritan is showing more and more quality all the time, every day.

“We’re excited to have him in the building.

“He’ll get more and more used to English football the longer he’s here, that’s obvious, but we’re really pleased with how he’s performed.”

A viable alternative?

Wolves will surely look to rotate their squad throughout the season, having pulled out all the stops to make the Europa League group stage.

If they advance into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals then two games a week will become normality, if it hasn’t already, as they continue on into 2020.

Joao Moutinho is the club’s only true out-and-out number ten, and his absence against Everton was painstakingly clear, as we have previously highlighted this week.

The form of Shabani for the youth team should at some point catch the eye of Santo, which could give him an alternative option in that role, instead of trying to force his defensive-minded midfielders to play the same way.

The 20-year-old had enough quality to feature in a couple of Bundesliga matches, so he should be able to handle a step up from English youth football to the Premier League.

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