Wolves undoubtedly need to sign at least one new centre-back this summer, with Gary O’Neil having had just four options this season.
Wanderers have felt the effects of having a small squad recently, with injuries to key players really halting momentum.
The loss of Craig Dawson has hit pretty hard, with the veteran’s absence in the backline being keenly felt. In the nine Premier League games since his last appearance, Wolves have not kept a single clean sheet.
Against Manchester City on Saturday, Erling Haaland put Wanderers to the sword by scoring four goals. In the reverse fixture at Molineux, Dawson kept the Norwegian sensation extremely quiet.
Dawson has been missed, but the club also need to thinking about a long-term replacement for him this summer, given he has just turned 34.
And someone Wolves ought to look at is Lloyd Kelly – but there is currently strong interest from Newcastle United…
Lloyd Kelly would be an astute signing by Wolves amid shortage of centre-backs
Lloyd Kelly plays for Bournemouth and has established himself as a solid Premier League centre-back since signing for the club in the summer of 2019.
Kelly has since clocked up 139 appearances for the club across all competitions.
Kelly’s current contract is expiring in the summer though, and potentially, one club will be getting an absolute bargain this summer.
At the moment, there are reports that Newcastle United have actually reached an agreement with the player.
Wolves ought to do their utmost to try and scupper this proposed move, because Kelly would make a great signing on a free.
As per fbref data, Kelly has a decent dribblers tackled success rate of 58.3%, and is fairly dominant in the air, winning 62.8% of his duels.
His pass accuracy is a respectable 75%, and he rarely gets himself into trouble, picking up just two yellow cards and zero reds.
Gary O’Neil knows him well
It looks as though Newcastle could be in the driving seat to sign Kelly at the moment, but Wolves should see if there’s a chance to do something here.
Kelly is a player O’Neil knows very well from his time at Bournemouth. The former England U21 international made 21 appearances under the current Molineux boss at the Vitality Stadium in the 2022/23 season.
O’Neil actually also played with Kelly in the 2017/18 season at Bristol City.
Interestingly last season, O’Neil took the captaincy off Kelly and handed it to Neto, but the player was fully on board with that call, with O’Neil explaining it was ‘to help him focus on his game’ (via Daily Echo).
O’Neil has also said of Kelly (via BBC Sport): “He is a fantastic human being who I know very, very well. I think the world of him and he understands how desperate I am to get him back from injury.”
Certainly, with Kelly being left-footed, he could be a very appealing choice if the club cashed in on Max Kilman, who is thought to have interest from Manchester United.