During Wolves’ time in the Premier League, there hasn’t been a great deal to criticise about them.
Nuno Santo’s side have kept things ticking over in a consistent fashion, securing back to back top half finishes. Yet, their chances of achieving that in 2020/21 look farfetched.
They are currently in the middle of a shambolic run of form and since Raul Jimenez was injured, they have won just three of 11 games.
Thus, the transfer window has come round at just the right time. Nuno will be praying that the addition of Willian Jose on loan from Real Sociedad proves beneficial but more business could be concluded.
On the chalkboard
Coming into the season, you wouldn’t have thought that Wolves would have problems in attack. Despite selling Diogo Jota, their frontline of Jimenez, Pedro Neto and Adama Traore looked fierce.
Unfortunately, we’ve seldom seen that trio in action this campaign. Instead, Fabio Silva has had to take on the brunt of the workload in the final third.
He hasn’t done so very well and after his colossal £35.6m move from Porto in the summer, has just two goals to his name. For an 18-year-old, his performances haven’t been too bad. The teenager often finds himself in the right areas and has eye-catching movement.
However, for someone who cost the club so much, you’d expect instant results. While Silva has failed to score regularly, he’s also failed to offer much support for his teammates.
Jimenez racked up six assists in the Premier League last term, producing 1.3 key passes per match in the top-flight and 1.7 in the Europa League.
He is adept at bringing others into play, but Silva struggles to replicate that. The talented forward hasn’t picked up an assist and has managed just 0.4 key passes per match. To elevate how badly he needs to improve in this area, his expected assists for this season so far comes out at 0.04.
That’s level with Max Kilman but worse than the likes of Leander Dendoncker and Rayan Ait-Nouri. Considering he plays in attacking phases, it’s not particularly impressive.
The solution
Fortunately, they could land an upgrade on that part of Silva’s game by signing Siriki Dembele from Peterborough. The £2.6k-per-week earner has been tracked by Wolves since November and after handing in a transfer request this month, is seemingly heading for the exit door.
The 24-year-old has scored six goals in all competitions this term, but pivotally to our argument, he has racked up seven assists.
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Furthermore, Dembele has provided 1.7 key passes per game in League One. For context, that puts him second to only Neto in terms of chance creation at Wolves. His tally is even better than Jimenez’s this term (0.5).
It’s clear that Silva has immense potential, but if Dembele arrived at Molineux, he’d offer them more variety and flavour in attack than the club-record signing.
For that reason alone, they must swoop for him this month. His contract expires in the summer so Jeff Shi could well secure a bargain transfer.