Football FanCast
·7 October 2021
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Yahoo sportsFootball FanCast
·7 October 2021
Despite currently sitting in 12th place in the Premier League table with three wins and four defeats under their belt so far this season, Wolves boast a respectable defensive record with just six goals conceded in seven games, the same as Liverpool and Manchester United.
Even with this current defensive record, it seems as though Wolves boss is already eyeing up a potential move for a new defender to bring to Molineux.
It has recently been reported by Fichajes (via Sport Witness) that Wolves and fellow Premier League side West Ham United are interested in signing Athletic Bilbao defender Dani Vivian.
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Joao Teixeira Roderick Silvio Rafa Mir
The 22-year-old, who has a release clause of €40m (£34m), has played in seven out of Bilbao’s eight La Liga games so far this season, conceding just two goals in the process.
Interestingly, the only La Liga game that Vivian did not play in is the only league match that Bilbao has lost so far this season in a 2-1 defeat against Rayo Vallecano.
Vivian’s performances in La Liga have earned him an overall performance rating of 7/10 according to WhoScored, making him one of Bilbao’s highest-rated players so far this season.
Taking all of this into account, it’s easy to see why Wolves and West Ham would be interested in signing him.
He’s not a prolific header of the ball with just 0.9 aerial duels won per match but he is an efficient tackler, winning 1.6 challenges a game. That would rank him second out of Wolves’ centre-halves this term with only Max Kilman producing more.
That makes him an attractive signing but there is another reason too. In our view, given the age of current Wolves centre-backs Willy Boly (30) and Romain Saiss (31) we feel that Vivian could be a good option to replace one of the pair and be a useful long-term option for the Old Gold given the Spaniard’s young age.
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Moving forward, if Wolves see an opportunity to sign Vivian in the upcoming January transfer window or the next summer window, this is definitely something the club should be looking to explore ahead of their fellow Premier League side West Ham.
Until then, Lage will have to make sure his side can start picking up wins in the league on a consistent basis and not concede too many goals. If they start leaking strikes they could be in danger of being in a relegation battle, rather than finishing in the top half of the table.