Wolves’ centre back search continues after Kilman departure and a look at their pre-season tour of America
As Wolves saw the main departure of their summer so far in club captain Max Kilman rejoining former boss Julen Lopetegui at West Ham, where are the club now looking for a player to replace Kilman as there’s suddenly a worrying gap left in defence ahead of the new campaign.
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00:00Wolves are still on the search for a centre-back, will they need to hurry that on as the window
00:12progresses with Max Killman heading out? That also leaves the hole in their captaincy, which
00:16I believe Mario Lamina has stepped up in these pre-season games. It's certainly a situation
00:23they need to address. Jose Mosquera might not be able to be trusted too highly on in
00:29the Premier League week in, week out. What do you think is the best sort of solution
00:33for Wolves?
00:34They definitely need to bring in a new signing, without a shadow of a doubt, because they've
00:38not got that depth. As you say, there's that uncertainty with Mosquera. I know he played
00:42well at Villarreal last season in La Liga, but La Liga is a different kettle of fish
00:46to the Premier League in a physical sense. How high the press is, I think he would have
00:50had a bit more time on the ball in Spain, and that's no disrespect to the Spanish top
00:54flighters. It's of course one of the best in the world, and it always has been. Real
00:58Madrid absolutely tearing out onto shreds as well as the players that they've got on
01:01their ranks. But they're not playing Real Madrid every single week, and I think the
01:05overall quality of the Premier League is a lot different to La Liga. It is a different
01:09stage, it's not proven yet in England. Can O'Neill trust him straight away, as you say?
01:14I'm not too sure. Of course, Toti Gomez played really well last season, but he filled in
01:18more as a left-back or a left-sided centre-back. Santi Bueno got some minutes, but not consistently
01:24enough perhaps. Craig Dawson, of course, he's a very experienced player, a very good player,
01:29but he's getting older, his pace is dwindling a bit. The answer really then is to sign a
01:33new centre-back. A decent one that's been linked is Jacob Brien, who's at Lyon. An Irish
01:39international who made that move to France. Quite a brave one, but it's paid off for him
01:43because he was a regular in Ligon, of course now a full Ireland international as well.
01:48The 6ft5 he stands at, he's good at passing out from the back, aerially dominant. He should
01:53be available for about £20m or £25m. But Nottingham Forest, Everton, Brentford, they're
01:58all interested, so it won't be easy for Balls and they might have to get a hurry on.
02:02On their pre-season plans, now into the United States of America, a fantastic opportunity
02:09for them to grow their fan base that way and get some more exposure. They'll play West
02:14Ham, Crystal Palace, RB Leipzig I believe as well, all across America. They're starting
02:20off in Miami and then games across the States. It's fantastic. There's not really many negatives
02:27to having a trip to America and getting your brand out that way because it's such a fantastic
02:32place to go and do that, grow your revenue, grow your brand. It just puts walls on the
02:39map even more.
02:41It's a really good opportunity for the players as well to go and have that experience. It
02:45should bring the squad even closer together. Togetherness was such an important part of
02:49last season with the squad dwindling through injuries. It's not just the Manchester United
02:54and the Liverpools and the Premier League. There are clubs like Wolves as well that are
02:56very exciting and hopefully some fans will jump on board.