The craziest story of the summer transfer window may well involve Wolves and West Ham.
Wolverhampton Wanderers are reportedly eyeing a sensational swoop for Al-Nassr striker Jhon Duran.
Vitor Pereira is eager to land a marquee signing to replace the goalscoring output from record sale Matheus Cunha, and Duran is said to be a target. Wolves’ pockets will be deep this summer following the departures of Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri, so speculation is mounting of what big name could come through the Molineux doors.
TeamTALK has made a sensational claim in that regard, reporting that Wolves are lining up an audacious loan move for Duran. Al-Nassr are said to be considering loaning out the Colombia international after just half a year and West Ham United are leading the race, with Wolves and Fulham in hot pursuit.
Formerly of Wolves’ local rivals Aston Villa before making his big-money £67 million transfer in January, Duran scored 12 goals in merely 1,044 minutes of English and Champions League football in the first half of last campaign. That worked out at one goal every 87 minutes — and the standard was very high as he scored screamers against Everton, Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig.
Since joining Al-Nassr, Duran has scored 12 goals in 18 appearances. That would be a decent return in most countries but the Saudi Pro League club are said to be underwhelmed and believe a loan back to the Premier League could progress his attributes. If he were to join Wolves, he would be a sensational addition to Pereira’s attacking ranks.
That would be the case if this news was one to be believed, anyway, as this is probably the most bonkers Wolves-related rumour of the summer so far. Duran, on his reported £321,000-a-week salary in Saudi, is simply way out of the Old Gold’s financial reach.
Even if Al-Nassr were to demand half of Duran’s salary, it would equate to £160,500 per week. That would make the striker by far Wolves’ highest-paid player. Even if Wanderers were happy to shell out that, the likely extortionate loan fee on top of the salary would severely limit what the club can do elsewhere in the transfer window.
The only scenario in which Duran could feasibly make the move to Molineux would be if Al-Nassr were happy to let him leave for less than half of his wages and without a big loan fee. That’s an unrealistic prospect given he only made the move to Saudi six months ago.
Wolves set to complete attacker deal in next 48 hours
Wanderers may be very unlikely to land Duran but that doesn’t mean they aren’t to be successful in the summer market. Birmingham World understands the Old Gold are on the verge of completing a deal to sign Celta Vigo winger Fer Lopez after seeing a £19.5 million bid accepted.
Managed by Gestifute, a company run by super agent Jorge Mendes and with strong ties to the Old Gold, Lopez is seen as a big talent. Although he doesn’t have the experience to immediately take the reins from the outgoing Cunha, it’s hoped he can gradually progress towards reaching his potential under head coach Vitor Pereira’s wing.
The Madrid-born forward, predominantly a right winger but also capable of playing in attacking midfield or on the left, is an excellent dribbler who loves to cut onto his preferred left foot. As can be seen by viewing highlights, Lopez is very good at quickly turning away from his man and then either picking out a pass through the lines or having a go at goal himself.
Although Lopez hasn’t racked up much senior experience just yet, he impressed with Celta’s B side, scoring 11 goals and providing six assists in 51 matches. It’s also promising that he’s managed a goal every 334 minutes in La Liga so far, while his 2.43 dribbles per 90 minutes rank him among the top 12%.
Not only that, but Lopez’s dribble success of 58.1% is better than four-fifths of fellow wingers in the Spanish top flight and his 2.69 shots per 90 minutes is bettered only by 17.9%. Those statistics, albeit from a pretty small sample size, are very promising indeed.
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