Sheffield Wednesday host Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Championship on Friday.
There will be a distinct Portuguese flavour to Sheffield Wednesday’s Championship encounter with Wolverhampton Wanderers on Friday.
Not only are two teams’ respective bosses, Carlos Carvalhal and Nuno Espirito Santo, from the Iberian nation, several of their playing squads are too, or at least speak Portuguese as a first language.
But could one of the latter category have been lining up for Wednesday as opposed to Wolves at Hillsborough?
Leo Bonatini, Wanderers’ Brazilian striker, has scored 12 goals and created another six for his teammates this season – a tally that only Gary Hooper (10 goals and two assists in one less outing) within the Owls camp comes close to matching.
Meanwhile, the rest of Carvalhal’s expensively assembled front line – Jordan Rhodes, Steven Fletcher, Atdhe Nuhiu, Lucas Joao and Sam Winnall (since loaned to Derby) – have contributed directly to 14 goals between them.
And Wednesday will not want to be reminded that Bonatini was on their radar months before any of Rhodes, Fletcher or Winnall arrived at Hillsborough – at least according to an A Bola report from March 2016.
It claims an Owls scout watched Bonatini in action during Estoril’s 2-1 defeat to Sporting Lisbon that month, and while there is no suggestion the 23-year-old was indeed the focus of their attention – he is sure to have caught the eye having scored his side’s goal.
Since then Bonatini has transferred to Al Hilal for £4.5 million and Wolves on loan – which is considerably less than the amount spent by Wednesday on several players in the meantime.
Yet another win for the Yorkshire side’s recruitment team.
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