One of Wolverhampton Wanderers’ transfer targets could be set to join another Premier League club…

What’s the word?

According to Fabrizio Romano, Chicago Fire goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina could be set to join Premier League giants Chelsea.

Writing on Twitter, Romano stated: “Gabriel Slonina will fly to London in the coming hours with his agent. He will undergo medical tests and sign long-term deal with Chelsea, then he will fly back to Chicago. The plan is confirmed.

“Paperworks between Chelsea and Chicago Fire are completed. $15m package.”

Wolves had shown an interest in the American in early July.

 He would’ve been a smart signing

One player who surprised many Premier League fans last season was Bruno Lage’s replacement for Rui Patricio.

Jose Sa was a stalwart at the back for Wolves, securing 11 clean sheets. He ranked sixth for Premier League clean sheets, outlining him as one of the outstanding goalkeepers, certainly of those outside the top-six.

However, with John Ruddy having left for Birmingham City on a free transfer, the Portuguese shot-stopper is now without an ample deputy.

It will be a huge shame therefore to see what would’ve been a fine acquisition go amiss.

This season for Chicago Fire, Slonina managed ten clean sheets across his 23 MLS appearances.

His side sits just outside the conference playoffs, and with plenty of the season left, to lose their young shot-stopper will certainly put a dent in their ambitions.

However, the fact that Wolves will still be without a solid backup keeper will worry those around the club.

Last season Sa managed to feature in all but one of their Premier League games, but it is certainly playing with fire to assume this will be the case every season.

Across 2021, Slonina's average SofaScore rating of 7.29 outlines him as one of his club’s finest performers. In fact, he ranked second amongst his teammates with this rating, suggesting he is one of the finest young goalkeepers on the planet.

He could have brought this reliability to the Molineux as a backup and been the natural successor to the 29-year-old who impressed in his debut season.

Seemingly captured for just $15m (£12m), this would have been shrewd business from Lage. It now leaves them ruing missing out on this smart signing, and scrambling for a new goalkeeper who can deputise for Sa. Supporters may well be understandably gutted as a result.

AND, in other news: Lage set to launch fresh Wolves offer for “fantastic” £51m “star”, imagine him & Neves.