As Wolverhampton Wanderers fans will know, the beginning of the month saw us trigger options we held on both Willy Boly and Benik Afobe to bring them to the club on a permanent basis this summer following our Championship title win and promotion into the Premier League.
With Diogo Jota already finding his future secured, the announcement made it three permanent deals as we prepare for the 2018/19 season.
Having joined from FC Porto, Boly went on to impress hugely in his 37 appearances and despite being sidetracked early on with a hamstring injury, he earned his spot in the PFA Championship Team of the Year.
Afobe returned to the Molineux from Bournemouth and went on to contribute six goals in 16 appearances for us and all three are expected back to pre-season training when Nuno Espirito Santo starts cracking the whip once more on Wednesday, June 27.
Yesterday, however, the Telegraph were one of many to report that Santo had now already given the greenlight on a potential move for Afobe to relegated Stoke City.
Having completed the £10million signing less than a full week ago, speculation had suggested Stoke had opened talks on a possible £12million move creating an immediate profit that Santo was happy to see invested elsewhere now.
A surprising development whichever way you look at it really if true.
The rumour mill is in full swing though.
The Birmingham Mail have us linked to 22-year-old AC Milan striker Andre Silva and he’s received the call from Portugal for the World Cup so fans may get a chance to see him in action.
They also lean on reports that we have joined the pack in the chase for Felix Beijimo as Swedish side Jdurgardens are said to be fielding interest from the Premier League and the Bundesliga. The 20-year-old is a full-back and reports in Sweden had us linked last January but we pulled the plug.
Journalist Fabrizio Romano has us linked with an interest in Valencia’s Joao Cancelo.
https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1003747697017479171
I’m sure we’ll see plenty of new names before the end of the day as well!
