Bruno Lage looks set for a major rebuild this summer at Wolves, with the likes of Romain Saiss, John Ruddy and Marcal all leaving and the futures of Joao Moutinho and Ruben Neves uncertain, there will be plenty of incomings.
The club appears to be casting its eye towards Portugal, with moves for Matheus Nunes and Joao Palhinha making progress, but this is just the beginning of the project for Lage, who will want to improve on the side’s tenth-place finish in the Premier League last season.
According to journalist Alan Nixon via Inside Futbol, Manchester City defender Oleksandr Zinchenko could be offered to Wolves during the transfer window as Pep Guardiola has given the player the green light to leave following their interest in Marc Cucurella. City value the player at £30m according to 90min so a move won't come cheap.
That said, this is the type of quality Lage requires in order to take Wolves to the next level and Zinchenko’s versatility could be an added bonus, with the player looking to gain more game time in a slightly advanced role.
If he does sign the £59k-per-week star from City, Lage could very well land his own Joao Cancelo, with the two having similar styles of play as per FBref.
The two player’s stats are similar. Zinchenko had the higher shots on target percentage (33.3%) compared to Cancelo (28.4%) although the Portuguese player played more matches.
When it comes to passing, the Ukrainian again has the higher percentage of completed passes, but there isn’t much in it (89.3% to 83.9%).
The pair have both won over 50% of their aerial duels with Zinchenko (51.5%) and Cancelo (52.1%) proving just how effective they are in the air.
With Cancelo’s valuation sitting at £58.5m, there’s no reason to doubt that Zinchenko can follow suit.
The “unique” City star could be a shrewd acquisition for Lage and sealing a deal for the talented player would signal a big statement of intent from Wolves.