Wolverhampton Wanderers are staggering to the finish line in the Premier League, sapped after an impressive campaign under Gary O’Neil.
The 14th-place side belied pre-season predictions to comfortably stay ahead of their relegation-troubled rivals despite many injuries and losing Julen Lopetegui last summer.
The Old Gold have some excellent forwards in Matheus Cunha and Hwang Hee-chan but remain fixed on strengthening their frontline this summer, with an exciting Premier League name touted last week.
Wolves eyeing PL striker
According to a report from 90min last week, Arsenal are willing to sell Eddie Nketiah this summer and will demand a fee in the region of £30-35m for his sale, with Wolves indeed interested.
This might seem a little steep and the Molineux side will no doubt seek to whittle that figure down but Nketiah has demonstrable success in England’s top flight and would add a much-needed dimension to O’Neil’s attack.
Why Wolves should sign Eddie Nketiah
Nketiah has been described as “the real deal” and a “monster” by journalist Aaron Catterson-Reid and while he hasn’t cemented a starting spot in Arsenal’s team, he is a talented player who would benefit from a move away to give his career a jump-start.
A crisp player with impressive technicality, he ranks among the top 8% of forwards across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for touches in the attacking box per 90 and the top 10% for pass completion, as per FBref. It’s this style that has led Mikel Arteta to praise his player as “top-level”.
| Eddie Nketiah: Premier League Stats by Season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Apps | Starts | Goals | Assists |
| 23/24 | 27 | 10 | 5 | 2 |
| 22/23 | 30 | 9 | 4 | 1 |
| 21/22 | 21 | 8 | 5 | 1 |
| 20/21 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 19/20 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 0 |
| 18/19 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17/18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Stats via WhoScored | ||||
The 24-year-old has always maintained a steady rate of scoring in the Premier League while never really being handed a position of prominence in Arteta’s squad. In all competitions, he has scored 38 goals and added seven assists from 168 appearances – not bad.
Nketiah is a relatively clinical striker but he’s patently going to remain on the fringe at the Emirates if he does not try his hand elsewhere, having started one Premier League match since early November.
With a growing feeling that Pedro Neto will take his leave permeating Molineux, perhaps O’Neil will convince Jeff Shi and the rest of the powers that be to keep Cunha on the books.
Sure, his sale would earn Wolves a pretty penny but there’s no question that the loss of both Neto and Cunha might tip the boat off-kilter, to a point of irrevocable damage.
Cunha would blend nicely with Nketiah’s physical presence and natural goal threat, with the £60k-per-week Brazilian ranking among the top 11% of forwards for assists, the top 12% for progressive passes, the top 3% for progressive carries and the top 2% for successful take-ons per 90.
This dynamic fluency would give Wolves the added impetus to lift themselves further up the table next season. O’Neil’s counter-attacking expertise has been inculcated smoothly into this Wolves team and Cunha’s multi-faceted ability would benefit from a more traditional centre-forward alongside him.
Wolves need to stay competitive and build, fight toward a place among European competition to repeat the golden days of Nuno Espirito Santo’s reign.
Nketiah and Cunha could make quite the strikeforce, allowing Hwang to play on the wing with greater regularity and increasing and deepening the overall dynamism of the Old Gold first team.
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