Wolves have reportedly made first contacts to sign a £17 million defender.
It has been a productive start to the summer by the club, who have already made three acquisitions.
After Tommy Doyle turned his loan move permanent, Wolves then landed Rodrigo Gomes from Braga, and exciting Brazilian starlet Pedro Lima will complete his move to the club on July 1.
Fans had been hoping to see Wolves make moves early on and so far, the club haven’t disappointed.
Gary O’Neil is hoping to head into 2024/25 with more options at his disposal, after injuries really hindered him in the second half of 2023/24.
Now, Wolves are being linked with a new central defender.
Wolves interested in Feyenoord defender Thomas Beelen
It was claimed last night by Dutch outlet 1908.nl that Wolves have made first contacts to sign defender Thomas Beelen from Feyenoord.
Supposedly, Wolves have made an approach to the 23-year-old. But there has not yet been any contact with Feyenoord.
The outlet claims that Wolves would have to offer at least £17 million if they are to stand a chance of signing Beelen, who made 26 appearances in 2023/24 in his first season with the club.
Of those 26 appearances, one of those came in the Champions League. Should he stay put at Feyenoord this summer, he will be playing in the competition again in 2024/25 after they finished second in the Eredivisie.
It is suggested that Wolves could struggle to land the player though, because Feyenoord are hoping to extend his contract, which is described as ‘a realistic scenario’.
Of course, at the moment, there is continued speculation about the future of Wolves captain Max Kilman.
Kilman is long-term target for West Ham United, who are now managed by Julen Lopetegui. Wolves don’t particularly want to sell the 27-year-old, and have therefore reportedly set a pretty high asking price of £45 million.
Beelen is very tidy on the ball
It will be interesting to see if Wolves make a push for Beelen at any point this summer.
One would imagine that it would take Kilman to be sold for Wolves to come in with a bid, as £17 million is a fair chunk of money.
But Beelen could be a decent addition.
As per fbref data, the star finished the Eredivisie season with a very impressive pass completion rate of 91.5%, indicating he is a solid distributor. For context, Kilman finished the Premier League season with 85.7%.
He also has a higher take-on success rate than Kilman (85.7% vs 62.5%), and also has a very impressive percentage of dribblers tackle rate of 92.3% to Kilman’s 75%.
His aerial duels success rate isn’t quite as Kilman’s though (61.3% vs 70.5%).
Statistically, Beelen seems likely a fairly well-rounded central defender. But he would be a risk given the step up in quality the Premier League is from the Eredivisie.