Wolves are certainly confident in their pursuit of their latest transfer target.
Whether that confidence proves to be misplaced, however, only time will tell.
HITC reported earlier on Thursday that Wolverhampton Wanderers were hopeful of fighting off competition from clubs in Italy and France to secure the signature of Jorgen Strand Larsen. Gary O’Neil’s side have made their move for the Celta Vigo striker. And it appears they feel well placed to get a deal done.
But no one at Molineux will be getting ahead of themselves as long as Bologna, AS Roma and Lille remain in the race. Bologna can offer Champions League football. They will soon have £34 million in the bank with Joshua Zirkzee expected to end up at Manchester United or AC Milan too.
Lille, HITC understands, have identified Strand Larsen as a replacement for their own talismanic centre-forward Jonathan David. Roma, meanwhile, need someone to fill the Romelu Lukaku role following the expiration of his Chelsea loan deal.
Strand Larsen, a similarly physically imposing number nine at 6ft 4ins, is believed to be keen on a move to the Italian capital.
Wolves in race for Celta Vigo striker Jorgen Strand Larsen
And there is also the question of budget.
Wolves, like many a Premier League club, have struggled with Financial Fair Play concerns in recent times. The Athletic reports that Wolves will likely be restricted to targeting players in the £8 to £15 million bracket this summer, the days of mega-money Fosun purchases largely over in this new era of sustainability.
The issue is, however, that Celta Vigo appear to value Strand Larsen at considerably more than £15 million.
“Selling Larsen for 25 million euros sounds like not much, now,” sporting director Marcos Garces told Faro de Vigo in January, suggesting that Celta would look for upwards of £21 million.
“Probably, in the summer it will be a good opportunity to make one of these sales that allow you to have economic stability. It is no secret to anyone that the season that Larsen is having is quite striking. Surely the offers we are waiting for will come.”
Well, the interest certainly has.
Whether that will be followed up by the kind of bids Celta deem acceptable for a man who ended the La Liga campaign with 13 goals for a relegation-threatened side remains to be seen.
La Liga outfit want over £20 million
Wolves have already brought in Rodrigo Gomes from Braga with Sport Recife starlet Pedro Lima set to follow. Both players will fall into that £8 to £15 million bracket. The former joins after a superb loan spell at Estoril for just shy of £13 million.
Lima, after opting for Wolves over Chelsea, will set the Molineux outfit back a further £8.5 million.
So while HITC understands that Wolves are confident with their position in the Strand Larsen race, both Gary O’Neil and predecessor Julen Lopetegui have spoken out publicly in the recent past about their concerns with the club’s suddenly restricted transfer budget.
One thing that is not in doubt, however, is Strand Larsen’s suitability for English football. At least, that is the view of his former Celta coach Rafa Benitez.
“I think he is a player who has a lot of consistency and who is adorning it every time with quality details,” Benitez, the one-time Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Inter Milan boss, told La Voz de Galicia.
“He has aspects in the game that he has to improve, and he knows it. (But) he is a hard worker. He has improved his finishing and understanding what he has to do depending on his team-mates and rivals. He is in the growth phase, but he is young and has a lot of desire.
“When he adjusts a couple of things, he has all the potential to go to the Premier League.”
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