Wolves now find themselves in a transfer predicament regarding the future of Adama Traoré, after the likely season-ending injury to Chiquinho during the club’s pre-season friendly with Burnley earlier in July.
That is according to Josh Holland, who was speaking to GiveMeSport about the club’s potential transfer plans this summer.
Traoré’s Wolves career looked to be over when the club sanctioned a loan move to Barcelona in January, with the Catalan giants having the option to buy the winger for £29m this summer.
However, Xavi’s side opted against paying that money at the end of his loan spell, and the eight-time Spain international finds himself back at Molineux, with just one year left on his contract at the West Midlands club.
It was assumed that the club would try to offload the speedster rather than let him go for free next summer, but Chiquinho’s injury now means that the club would be precariously short in those wide-forward positions should Traoré leave the club this summer.
And Holland believes that it might be worth holding onto the Spaniard for the season so that Bruno Lage has options should Pedro Neto or Daniel Podence suffer injuries of their own this campaign.
“It certainly makes the [Traoré] situation a lot more difficult, I think,” Holland said.
“Even in their first pre-season game against Burnley, a lot of talk was of Chiquinho breaking into the first team and challenging Daniel Podence and Pedro Neto.
“Obviously, that can’t happen anymore, so it may force Wolves’ hand.”
TIF Thoughts on Holland’s comments…
We are inclined to agree with Holland’s comments about Traoré, and we believe that Lage would be grateful if the club opted not to cash in on the winger this season, so that he could have more depth in his squad should he need it.
We also believe it would be in Traoré’s best interests to perform to his best abilities at Molineux this season and potentially earn himself a lucrative contract somewhere else if that’s what he desires – especially since his switch to Barcelona did not exactly go to plan.