It may be a little far-fetched to say that Wolves’ season hangs in the balance, but their prospects of it being a successful campaign will be impacted by their quest to sign a backup striker.
As such, it’s a weird scenario to be stuck in because, at the end of the day, no player wants to willingly play second fiddle and get paid to rot on the bench – unless your name is Gareth Bale, of course.
Wolves appeared to have found the man to do exactly that in AEK Athens striker Nelson Oliveira but reports suggest that any potential deal had broken down over the finances involved.
The Greek side are becoming increasingly frustrated according to the Daily Mail.
This is something they just cannot afford to do when you look at the wider picture.
Yes, he’s not going to feature much. Yes, it may be a waste of money. But it is a necessity.
Wolves have no senior striker other than Raul Jimenez, who might as well rename himself “jaded” after playing so many matches in the past six to eight months.
Watch Wolverhampton Wanderers Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below
Per Transfermarkt, the 28-year-old frontman has played 37 matches, scoring 20 goals in the process, and that even excludes his Gold Cup campaign with Mexico as well as Wolves’ pre-season tour of China and his national team excursions each break.
He just needs someone to hand him a rest every now or then, especially with the Europa League knockout stages soon on the horizon, which means they’ll be back to playing Thursday-Sunday once again.
If Jimenez were to suffer an injury for any substantial period of time, then the baton would fall onto youth striker Benny Ashley-Seal or maybe Diogo Jota, but the latter is hardly your out-and-out number nine.
Life after football: Do you know what all of these former players did next?
What is even more baffling is manager Nuno Santo’s plea to sign players as soon as possible – well here we are, two days to go and still no sign of a new forward.
It’s now on the ownership Fosun to go back in with a better offer for Oliveira or help the club find a viable alternative if there even is one at this late, late stage of the window.
Failure to do so will be putting their season in serious danger.
While in other news, Tim Spiers issues fresh update on potential Wolves additions before the deadline…
