Last week, it was said that Wolves had identified Crystal Palace striker Christian Benteke as a target this summer.
Bruno Lage is supposedly keen to bolster his attack after Fabio Silva was loaned to Anderlecht, and in truth, his frontline was already quite thin before the youngster departed.
Chiquinho is also set to miss most of the 2022/23 campaign with a knee injury, suffered during a friendly.
Now, something else has happened which will surely see Wolves make their move for Benteke.
What’s the story?
Well, Chiquinho isn’t the only one in the treatment room at Wolves.
Unfortunately, Raul Jimenez has now suffered a knee injury of his own, which the Telegraph believe could keep him sidelined for the next eight weeks.
That means Wolves will go into their opening game of the Premier League campaign with just Pedro Neto, Adama Traore, Daniel Podence and Hwang Hee-chan as their attacking options, with none of the quartet considered to be an out-and-out No.9 like Jimenez or Benteke.
Therefore, we think a bid is coming for the Belgium international, who Crystal Palace paid £27m for in 2016.
It has been said that Patrick Vieira is keen to sell Benteke, who will leave Selhurst Park for nothing in 2023 if he isn’t sold this summer – he has already entered the final 12 months of his contract.
Crystal Palace trash could be Wolves treasure
In our view, Benteke could thrive at Wolves, despite a number of difficult seasons in south London.
The 31-year-old has only scored 20 goals in his last 126 Premier League appearances, although in fairness to him, the Eagles haven’t really played to his strengths since Sam Allardyce left SE25.
When the 67-year-old was in charge, and the likes of Andros Townsend often aimed for Benteke in the box, he impressively scored 15 Premier League goals in the 2016/17 campaign.
With traditional wide men such as Neto, Traore and Podence, Benteke would surely receive plenty of crosses into the box, which is where he tends to thrive with his phenomenal aerial ability.
Keep an eye on his situation, as we believe Wolves could bid for him soon after what happened to Jimenez.
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