After Matt Doherty was sold to Tottenham Hotspur over the summer, Wolverhampton Wanderers were linked with FC Porto’s Tomas Esteves, Tottenham Hotspur’s Serge Aurier, FC Porto’s Otavio, Norwich City’s Max Aarons, AS Monaco’s Djibril Sidibe and FC Porto’s Jesus Corona as Nuno Espirito Santo didn’t trust Oskar Buur or Luke Matheson to replace him.
We eventually settled on Ki Jana Hoever from Liverpool and Nelson Semedo from Barcelona, but The Times say we made a failed attempt to sign Neco Williams. Liverpool were unwilling to sell the 19-year-old, so we turned our attentions elsewhere.
Why didn’t Liverpool sell?
Williams has made 33 appearances for Liverpool U18s, 15 appearances for the U19s, 25 appearances for the U23s and 15 appearances in the first-team. He made his senior debut for the Reds in October 2019 and looks to have a bright future at Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp has given the 19-year-old sporadic appearances in the Premier League (6), Champions League (1), FA Cup (4), EFL Cup (3) and Community Shield (1) while calling him “exciting” and “a machine”. Williams has represented Wales on two occasions and signed a long-term deal with Liverpool in August, so the Merseysiders weren’t going to sell.
That forced us to sign Hoever from Liverpool instead, although he’ll be a long-term project at Molineux.
Would Williams be better off at Wolves?
The 19-year-old has made four appearances across the board for Liverpool this season, racking up 247 minutes of playing time. Hoever has also made four appearances in all competitions, amassing 209 minutes of football. Williams has Trent Alexander-Arnold standing in his way of more regular playing time while Hoever has Semedo, so the pair are no better off swapping clubs.
Nuno does take good care of his youngsters, having named five teenagers in matchday squads already this season, so Williams could have developed well here. But Hoever has potential too and a good player in Semedo to learn from, so we shouldn’t bemoan missing out on the Welsh international.
Here’s hoping Hoever can go on to realise his potential in the Midlands
In other news, Raul Jimenez admits Juventus and Manchester United made approaches for him
