With March now upon us, you could quite easily argue that Wolves’ season is done. Barring a major catastrophe, they will be safe from relegation, but it will now take quite something for them to achieve European football.
With that in mind, Jeff Shi can comfortably start preparing for next term.
What’s the word?
According to Football Insider, Wolves are planning on letting one of their young players leave in the summer; Max Kilman.
The defender only signed a new five-year contract a matter of months ago, in October, so the timing is bizarre.
However, it’s reported that the 23-year-old is not the calibre of defender that manager Nuno Santo wants in his squad. As a result, they’re hoping to either offload him on a temporary or permanent basis in a few months time.
Kilman was enjoying a breakthrough season at Molineux but this will no doubt dampen his campaign.
Replacement needed
Wolves have an extremely thin first-team squad and if they sanction Kilman’s exit, they will surely have to recruit a replacement.
Of course, they could look to their academy but if they are willing to spend money they could do far worse than targeting Club Brugge centre-back Odilon Kossounou.
The 20-year-old was linked with a move to Molineux last month in a deal that could cost them £20m. The problem for Wolves, however, is that clubs in Italy are also pursuing his signature.
Although he’s less experienced than Kilman, it’s hard to deny that Kossounou wouldn’t be a good addition to the side.
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The Ivorian is a monster in the tackle and so far this season has won 87% of his battles on the ground. When faced with an attacker, very rarely does he let them past.
You only need to look at words from agent Patrick Mork. He said last month: "He is a special player. For me, he is a complete defender, very fast as he showed last year in the Champions League against a certain (Kylian) Mbappe."
If you can maintain speed with a player of that ilk then it bodes incredibly well. Kilman isn’t the fastest player in the Wolves team by any stretch of the imagination so not only could they sign a more bullish player here, but they could also land a more athletic individual.
Watching the Wolves centre-back walk through the exit door wouldn’t be disastrous. Certainly, if it frees up funds to sign a player like Kossounou, there’d be plenty of positives.
He is quick, strong and has a high ceiling. What’s not to like?