Wolves could be about to face one of their biggest dilemmas since being promoted back to the Premier League in 2018, with veteran midfielder Joao Moutinho’s contract set to expire at the end of the season, and in-demand Ruben Neves attracting interest from the likes of Barcelona.
Bruno Lage could also have to navigate his way around the Premier League registration rules, with the club currently just two players away from reaching the limit for foreign players in a squad. Furthermore, with Pedro Neto and Chiquinho both now 22 and having to be registered, and Bendeguz Bolla set to return from loan at the end of the season, they could need to focus their recruitment on British talent this summer.
However, it seems that the club are already compiling a shortlist of young English talent to bring in and replace potentially outgoing stars, including a League One maestro who could take over in midfield from Moutinho in the not-too-distant future.
What’s the news?
According to Football League World, Wolves are among a host of Premier League clubs looking to sign 20-year-old Dan Neil from Sunderland this summer after a very impressive campaign in the third tier.
The report claimed that if the Black Cats are to have any chance of holding on to their prized asset, they will need to obtain promotion to the Championship this year, and with them currently sitting sixth and just one-point ahead of Sheffield Wednesday and Wycombe, that task remains a challenging one.
Future star with high expectations
After having a sensational breakthrough season at Sunderland, Neil has won plenty of admirers from his performances, having scored three goals and set up seven more in 35 League One appearances.
Making 1.2 key passes and completing 0.5 dribbles per game, he has become a fan favourite at the Stadium of Light and had won over his former manager Lee Johnson, who was full of praise for the homegrown star during his tenure at the club, even comparing him to a legend of arch-rivals Newcastle.
Johnson said of the 20-year-old: “You can see and feel the passion that he has got for Sunderland when you are coaching him, and he’s a great kid and a really good football player with bags of potential, and we’ll try and hone that as quickly as possibly.
“He’s technically a very good player, you can see the way he manipulates the ball, and I think he has added another dimension to his game in being able to drop and drive, as we call it, and receive the ball and commit players.
“He’s got that lovely dribbling technique, a little bit like a young Paul Gascoigne almost in the way he sort of hops and drags it at the same time which, as a defender, makes it very difficult to commit because as soon as you do, he’s got the ability to skip by you.”
Should Neil sign for Wolves, Lage will be hoping that the youngster can emulate Moutinho, who has built his entire career upon his “enviable” technical ability and football intelligence. If the “brilliant” 20-year-old Englishman, as Kevin Phillips called him, can live up to the Gascoigne comparison, he would certainly be a worthy long-term replacement for the 143-cap Portugal midfielder at Molineux.
In other news – Shi disaster: Wolves will have nightmares over teenage sensation who is “like Phil Foden”
