Who would have thought, when Adama Traore was ripping the Premier League to shreds during the 2019/20 season, that Wolverhampton Wanderers supporters would happily sacrifice their Spanish speed-machine two years later if that meant keeping Max Kilman at Molineux?
“You can have Adama but over my dead body are you taking Kilman,” one Wolves supporter wrote on Twitter today after rumours linking the talented centre-half with a move to Tottenham Hotspur emerged, via 90Min.
Such a statement not only reflects the recent plateau in Traore’s development, it also highlights how far Kilman has come in such a short space of time.
In-and-out of the Wolves side under Nuno Espirito Santo, Kilman has already made more Premier League appearances this season than he did in the whole of the last one, starting every one of the club’s 19 matches since the appointment of Bruno Lage.
How do Wolves fans feel about Max Kilman joining Tottenham?
“I’m really enjoying working under him (Lage),” said Kilman, the Wolves Fans’ Player of the Year for 2021 (Birmingham Mail).
The 24-year-old’s forward-thinking, ball-playing approach – a style honed during his formative years in futsal – have certainly played a big part in his rapid rise under Lage.
“We are using the centre-backs more to carry out the ball and break lines,” Kilman adds. We’re being a bit more aggressive defensively, for example playing a higher line.
“There have been a few changes from last season, but we’re all learning and all getting better.”
Forget his impressive passing range, those marauding runs from the back, it is Kilman’s defending that has really caught the eye this term.
Only Manchester City (13) have conceded more goals than Wolves (14) and Kilman is a big reason why.
According to 90Min, Antonio Conte’s Spurs are keen on the Chelsea-born stopper. Kilman would certainly have few problems adapting to Conte’s three-at-the-back system after impressing in a similar system in the Black Country.
But while Traore appears to be coming to the end of his Wolves story, the ink is still drying on the five-year contract Kilman signed in November.
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