Wolves are set to sign PSV Eindhoven’s highly-rated 17-year-old, Nigel Lonwijk, according to Tim Spiers.
On Tuesday evening, The Athletic journalist, Tim Spiers, revealed on Twitter that the young centre-back was set to make the switch from the Netherlands to the midlands (via Tim Spiers).
The initial story was revealed on Saturday, with a Dutch news outlet, Eindhoven Dagblad, revealing Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were in with a €220,000 (£190,000) bid for the youngster (as per Eindhoven Dagblad).
Espirito Santo’s belief in youth
One area where the Wolves gaffer has put his trust in during his time at Molineux, is the promotion of youth team players to the first team where possible (per Express and Star).
Due to the Old Gold’s chocker first-team schedule over the winter period (per Daily Mail), the Portuguese manager has been given ample opportunity to field youth, as he did against Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup (via Sky Sports).
With the midlands club set to invest in youth (per Tim Spiers) and make extra effort to retain those already at the club (via Football Insider), it is clear Espirito Santo has a long term project at Molineux.
TiF Tactics – How does Lonwijk compare?
With Wolves’ newcomer a centre-back, it is clear that the young Dutch defender’s main competition for eventual first-team promotion is Max Kilman.
The Old Gold’s 22-year-old centre-back made the step up to Espirito Santo’s senior set-up last season, with the youngster having joined from Maidenhead United the season previous (via The Guardian).
In his last outing for the club, Kilman managed an impressive 8/10 performance (as per Express and Star), which Lonwijk will have to compete with should he make the first-team grade.
While little is known about the 17-year-old defender he is believed to be strong and athletic (per Tim Spiers) and having previously featured for the Netherlands at Under-16 level and been involved in squads with PSV’s Under-19s, is believed to be quite the talent (per Football Oranje).