Wolves must make January swoop for Sven Botman | OneFootball

Despite having an average squad age of 26.4, three of Wolves’ five oldest senior players are defenders.

One of those is 30-year-old centre-back Willy Boly, who along with being one of the squad’s oldest current players also has a rather worrying injury record over recent months and years. It was also recently revealed by Old Gold manager Bruno Lage that the Ivorian has suffered a muscular injury.

With this in mind, a potential dip into the transfer market during the upcoming January window could be on the cards for the Midlands club.

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Recently, journalist Luke Hatfield said that he thinks Wolves could be “keen to revive their interest” in Lille defender Sven Botman in January if a deal can be done after being linked with him during the previous summer transfer window.

Since joining the French club from Ajax’s under-21 side back in the 2020 summer transfer window, the 21-year-old has gone on to make 59 appearances for Lille across all competitions, chipping in with one goal and one assist along the way.

Furthermore, the 6 foot 3 Botman has proved himself to be a solid defensive unit for Lille by averaging 4.4 clearances per game and winning 68% of duels in Ligue 1 this season.

Labelled as a potential “leader” on the pitch by former Lille manager Christophe Galtier, the 21-year-old could not only fix Lage’s short-term issue of Boly being out injured for the time being. The Dutchman could also prove himself to be a suitable long-term replacement for the likes of Boly and Romain Saiss given his young age.

Should Wolves make a move to sign Botman in January?

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Taking all this into account, working out a deal in January to bring Botman to Molineux in January should be at the top of Fosun’s priority list to help the club strengthen their squad with a player who has admitted to having dreams of playing in the Premier League at some stage in his career.

However, with the defender also being previously linked with a number of other Premier League clubs in the past, Wolves could have some competition for his signature if those reported suitors also see an opportunity to sign him in January.