According to Calciomercato, AC Milan would be willing to part ways with long-term Wolves target Franck Kessie for just €25m (£23.3m).

What's the word, then?

Well, the Ivory Coast international was the subject of a mega-money bid from the Midlands-based side in 2018.

Back then, Fosun offered a whopping €40m (£37.2m) for the former Atalanta man, plus €20m (£18.6m) in bonuses which was rejected by the Italian giants.

Following on from that bid, Wolves were again believed to be planning a swoop for Kessie as recently as November ahead of the January window, when Gazzetta revealed that the club were plotting to invest more than €20m in the Ivorian's services.

However, no move to Molineux materialised, but following Calciomercato's recent report on AC Milan's new asking price, perhaps it was a bullet dodged for Fosun.

Why was it a bullet dodged?

At a first glance, Kessie's stock has clearly been dented for whatever reason seeing as AC Milan are now happy to take just £23.3m for him, having rejected an offer of over half that sum in 2018.

For a club to turn down an offer of nearly £60m for a player, only to then deem his asking price as roughly a third of that figure means questions have to be asked in regards to how efficient a use of cash that would've been from Wolves, had their 2018 offer been accepted.

However, what also makes this situation feel like Fosun dodged a bullet in 2018 is the fact that Nuno Espirito Santo already has a wealth of midfield options, and the 23-year-old may not have fitted into the side anyway given the Wolves boss' stubbornness.

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Nuno has used just 20 players in the Premier League this season, fewer than any other club, and with the likes of Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, Leander Dendoncker, Morgan Gibbs-White and Bruno Jordao all vying for a starting role, it feels far from certain that Kessie would have even been one of the first names on the teamsheet.

In other news, this Jorge Mendes client has proven to be an excellent value for money addition by Fosun...