Wolverhampton Wanderers look set to miss out on the permanent signing of Barcelona winger Francisco Trincao.

What's the word?

That is according to a report from Portuguese outlet Record, which claims that Sporting CP are the front-runners in the race to sign the Portuguese winger via a two-year loan deal with an option to buy for a price of €20m (£17.3m) in 2024.

Wolves had an option to make Trincao's stay at Molineux permanent for around £25m, but seem to have rejected the chance to act on that proposal.

Wolves' transfer disaster

Having managed just three returns in the form of two goals and one assist across 28 Premier League games, Trincao endured a rocky time at Wolves for the most part, but in fairness did show glimpses of the quality that we saw in his final season at Braga, where he bagged eight goals and eight assists in 27 games.

Tactically, it weakens Wolves, with a lack of inverted options at the right wing position, leaving just Pedro Neto as the only left-footed winger in the side.

His last goal for Wolves against Chelsea made for a positive display and demonstrated his ability against top-class opposition, though performances like this have been few and far between for a player previously described as “magic” by Jose Carvalho Araujo.

In an ideal world, the Old Gold boss may have hoped for a straight swap deal between Barcelona loan star Adama and the £17.3m technician Trincao.

But this was a previous option and with the 22-year-old's reunion with former boss Ruben Amorim at Sporting CP pending, it looks as though Wolves boss Bruno Lage is set to miss out in what could be a decision that ends up as a disaster. He certainly won't want the tricky attacker to end up being one that got away.

AND in other news: Lage given green light for £15m Wolves target who "will explode", he’s Ruben Dias 2.0