Championship leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers agreed a deal to sign Jurgen Locadia from Eredivisie winners PSV before he signed for Brighton.
Wolverhampton Wanderers have been used to getting their own way in the transfer market since Fosun International and Jorge Mendes arrived at Molineux in the summer of 2016.
But one player they could not convince to take part in the Wolves’ revolution was Dutch forward Jurgen Locadia.
It seemed for all the world that Locadia was going to sign for the Black Country giants on transfer deadline day last August. The Express and Star claims that a £10 million fee had been agreed for the PSV frontman, only for the deal to fall through just hours before the window slammed shut.
No reason was given for the collapse, however – until now.
“First came Wolverhampton Wanderers in the afternoon, they wanted to pay eleven million euros, but Locadia hesitated about the Championship,” PSV’s highly respected managing director Marcel Brands said in quotes reported by VI.
Six months later, Locadia did move to England – but not to the second tier.
Instead, Brighton and Hove Albion smashed their transfer record to sign the 24-year-old for £14 million on the back of a superb start to the season for PSV, for whom he had scored nine goals in 15 Eredivisie starts.
Locadia has only made four Premier League appearances in Brighton colours however, scoring once, with his start to life in England disrupted by injury.
Fortunately for Wolves though, missing out on Locadia didn’t stop them cruising to promotion.
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