According to Diario de Navarra, Wolverhampton Wanderers are interested in Unai Nunez and may have to battle Arsenal for his signature. The 23-year-old has been linked with a move away from Athletic Bilbao and may be granted a departure if his replacement is brought in first.
Wolves have been after a centre-back for the longest time and had Kristoffer Ajer, Gabriel Magalhaes, Axel Disasi, Christian Luyindama, Bruno Viana, Ousseynou Ba, Jean-Clair Todibo, Tosin Adarabioyo, Thiago Silva, Ruben Dias, Diego Llorente, Daniele Rugani, Nicolas N’Koulou, Mohammed Salisu and Robin Koch on our radar, but Diario de Navarra say we’re willing to pay a large amount to bring Nunez to Molineux.
How good is Nunez?
Pretty good, it seems. The 23-year-old rose from the youth ranks to Bilbao’s first-team in 2017 and has gone on to make 80 appearances in all competitions, scoring one goal.
Nunez has been a regular at the San Mames Stadium for four seasons, featuring 68 times in La Liga, winning 179/298 aerial duels (60%), creating 11 chances, completing 84.5% of his 2882 passes, making 27/32 successful dribbles (84.3%), taking 44 shots with 20.4% hitting the target, blocking 105 crosses/passes/shots, making 291 clearances, averaging a tackle (105) or interception (121) every 26 minutes and being dribbled past (34) only once every 172 minutes.
How much will he cost?
With three years remaining on his deal at Athletic while being a first-team regular, Nunez isn’t going to be cheap. CIES Football Observatory say his market value is €7m-€10m (£6.3m-£9m) and Transfermarkt believe he’s worth £18m, but Diario de Navarra say the centre-back has a release clause of €30m (£27.1m).
Nunez won’t break the bank and has shown himself to be a competent player that doesn’t let a lot get by him, but can we beat out Arsenal’s interest?
With Willy Boly, Conor Coady, Romain Saiss, Max Kilman and new-boy Marcal at Nuno Espirito Santo’s disposal, people may question whether we need another defender. It’s worth noting that Saiss is no longer a regular and Marcal is a left-back, so we are lacking natural centre-backs.
It’s worth keeping an eye on this story as we showed an interest in Nunez before being put off by his asking price. That no longer seems an issue.
In other news, how is Diogo Jota getting on at Liverpool?
