Nuno Santo finally appears to have cracked the code. After a minor thought of relegation, Wolves have now tasted defeat just once in their last six Premier League outings.With this season being somewhat of a write-off, though, they can already start preparing for next term.
What’s the word?
Part of the preparation for next season will be considering who they should and shouldn’t sign in the transfer market during the summer.
One name that’s been linked in the last few days is young defender Odilon Kossounou. The Club Brugge centre-back has been attracting the eyes of Wolves but it’s thought that Inter and AC Milan are also chasing his signature.
The youngster is supposedly rated at around £20m so would be fairly costly for a player of his stature in the game. That being said, Jeff Shi isn’t afraid to spend money on potential. After all, Wolves shelled out £35.6m on teenager Fabio Silva last summer.
Upgrade for Wolves
One of the Old Gold’s biggest problems this season has been in defence. As of the beginning of February, they had kept just a solitary clean sheet in the league since October.
However, they have finally begun to find some sort of remedy, keeping three shut outs in their last four outings. That being said, with Nuno tinkering with a three-man and four-man defensive shape, there is still work to be done in improving what has been a shaky backline.
Perhaps the addition of Kossounou in the summer window would help. Standing at 6 foot 2, he’s a sizeable object to get past and consequently, is a defensive brute. For instance, he is one of the best tacklers of the ball in the Jupiler Pro League.
In Belgium’s top tier this season, the 20-year-old has a tackle success rate of 87%. For context, that betters Romain Saiss, who has managed to succeed with only 55% of his tackles in comparison.
Kossounou is also better in the air than Wolves’ Moroccan centre-half, winning 57% of his aerial battles compared to Saiss’ 46%.
Although the Brugge defender is impressive on the ground, he’s also technically adept – just look at the assist he claimed last month against Cercle Brugge.
Clearly, he’s got excellent vision and for a Premier League defender, Kossounou’s link-up passing would rank at an impressive 81 out of 99 according to Smarterscout’s ratings. They have a video-game-like ratings system where they accumulate a host of stats to work out player abilities.
Possessing a success rate of 85% in terms of his passing, he’s adept at bringing the ball out from the back and with that in mind, he’d certainly suit the style of play Nuno likes to operate with.
With problems at the back one of the brunt of Wolves’ problems this term, signing someone as stern in the challenge as Kossounou would undoubtedly help their cause.