At long last, Wolves supporters have a new signing to cheer about.
Their rather drab 1-0 win over Chorley last Friday was followed up by the confirmation of Willian Jose’s arrival on loan. Though, Jeff Shi might not be done in the window just yet.
What’s the word?
The priority for Wolves this January was to find a new attacker and in their loan acquisition from Real Sociedad, they have found that.
Despite his arrival, another forward could be arriving at Molineux. According to The Daily Mail, Wolves are one of a number of teams interested in signing 87-cap Nigeria international Ahmed Musa.
The 28-year-old is available on a free transfer and has a host of willing suitors. West Brom are another interested party from the Premier League while Fulham and CSKA Moscow are also pondering a move.
Wolves’ next Costa?
With Musa available on a free transfer, there is little risk to this deal, especially with Wolves in such diabolical form.
They have won just three of their last 11 outings so need all the help they can get. That being said, the decision to bring Musa to the Midlands – if that’s what they choose – would be a poor piece of business.
The fact of the matter is that the forward has already struggled to produce consistent numbers in the top-flight of English football.
The Nigerian signed for Leicester in a then-club-record fee of £16m back in 2016 but departed after playing just 33 times for the Foxes. In the process, Musa found the net on only five occasions.
Clearly, this was not a worthwhile investment and it would be unwise if Wolves brought him back to the Midlands. After all, he beat the goalkeeper on just four occasions in the Saudi top-flight last season.
With numbers like that, there’s no reason why he’d thrive in the Premier League at the second time of asking.
Though, what do statistics like those remind us of? Helder Costa, of course.
Another tricky forward, the Portuguese was sublime in the Championship, scoring 15 and registering 14 assists across two years. However, after their promotion, he beat the goalkeeper on a solitary occasion and provided two assists for the Old Gold.
[snack-amp-story url="https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-this-weeks-latest-wolves-news" title="Read this week's latest Wolves news"]
Things haven’t got easier for Costa with Leeds. He’s contributed to four goals this term and is already being touted with leaving Elland Road.
Clearly, the duo both struggle in the Premier League but there are closer similarities too, specifically in terms of playstyle.
They both have plenty of pace and are equally creative, beating opponents with similar regularity. For example, in both of their opening Premier League campaigns, they were closely matched for shots per game.
Costa managed one per match compared to Musa’s 0.8. In terms of average dribbles, there was only a minimal difference between the two. The former managed one dribble a game in the 2018/19 season compared to the latter’s 0.7 dribbles in 2016/17.
Musa has clearly matured since that campaign. He scored more goals (2) than Lionel Messi did at the last World Cup for instance. Though, it would appear that like Costa, he isn’t quite cut out for the Premier League and the lack of time you get on the ball.
This is a move that Jeff Shi needs to swerve.