Wolves will have plenty to improve upon when the summer transfer window opens.
Nuno Santo will have to enhance a striker line-up that’s bagged just four goals since Raul Jimenez’s injury. They will also need to bring more depth into a squad ravaged by injury this term.
What’s the word?
One player linked with a move to Wolves is Omar Mascarell.
The holding midfield player is currently Schalke’s captain but after claiming he wouldn’t leave back in January, it now looks as though he’s wanting a new adventure.
The German club are in dire financial straits at the moment which means Mascarell could be available for as little as £4m.
What will also make Wolves’ pursuit easier is the fact that Schalke have now been relegated from the Bundesliga. That all unravelled this week as the club’s players ended up being chased down the street by an angry mob of ultras.
Subsequently, the Old Gold are looking to take advantage and bring the 28-year-old back to English football.
When the midfielder was a Real Madrid player, he spent a period on loan at Derby in the Championship where he caught the eye.
Forget Dendoncker
If Wolves sign a new midfielder then it may just provide Nuno with the ammunition he needs to axe Leander Dendoncker from the starting XI.
The Belgian has played in defence and in the middle of the park this term but he has been pretty inconsistent along the way.
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He was at fault during their battering against Manchester City and has been relatively inconsistent; specifically in defence.
When Dendoncker came up against Newcastle and Allan-Saint Maximin he was skinned on a regular basis as the French winger flourished with four key passes and four dribbles.
With that in mind, it wouldn’t be a bad idea if Wolves searched for an upgrade.
Mascarell may have been relegated this term but he is still a midfielder that can offer plenty.
Nuno wasn’t in charge when the Spaniard played for Derby but Wolves saw firsthand just how good he was when the Rams defeated them 5-0 in November 2014.
The Schalke enforcer completed 95% of his passes, four of which created key opportunities to score. Mascarell claimed an assist too as he terrorised both Danny Batth and Ethan Ebanks-Landell. He also did the dirty work well too, registering two tackles and three interceptions.
It was a performance that was described as “absolutely outstanding” by first-team coach Paul Simpson at the time.
Of course, times have changed, but his free-kicks and corners that day were also attractive. “His set-piece delivery was very good against Wolves on a number of occasions and it gives us an added threat in the opposition’s penalty area,” Simpson continued.
That being said, it’s the defensive assets he possesses that would be so crucial to Wolves building from the back.
He won 1.8 tackles and 2.7 interceptions per game last term for instance. Dendoncker, on the other hand, managed the same number of challenges but fewer interceptions with just one per match.
Mascarell reads the play well and would offer a dynamic threat from dead-ball scenarios; there is much to like about his game.