After guiding Wolverhampton Wanderers from the Premier League relegation zone into 13th place in his first six months at the helm, Julen Lopetegui now has a chance to put his own spin on the squad, amid the prospect of potential new signings this summer…
What are the latest Wolves transfer rumours?
According to Football Insider, the Old Gold are reportedly interested in making a move for Almeria striker, El Bilal Toure, with the Spanish outfit said to have made the forward available to purchase this summer for a fee of around £34m.
The report suggests that despite spending just a solitary season with the La Liga side, the 21-year-old already looks set to be moving on this summer, with the likes of Everton, West Ham United and Burnley also keeping tabs on his progress.
Who is Almeria forward El Bilal Toure?
After joining from French side Reims last September, Toure enjoyed a steady-if-not-spectacular debut campaign in La Liga with Almeria, scoring seven goals in 21 appearances – exactly one goal every three games on average.
Among those strikes was the winner against Barcelona in February as Almeria secured their first-ever league victory over the Catalan giants, who went on to clinch the title rather emphatically.
Toure finished the season as Almeria's top scorer and also chipped in with a couple of assists to effectively keep his side in the division, making links with Wolves, and their Premier League rivals, entirely understandable.
Even before finding his feet in Spanish football, the promising talent also caught the eye at a very young age in France when registering nine Ligue1 goals for Reims.
Toure was described as "a major talent" by football reporter Graeme Bailey last year amid links with the Toffees, where he was considered a like-for-like replacement for Tottenham-bound Richarlison.
However, while Toure and Richarlison are indeed alike in terms of stature – they are 6 ft 1 and 6 ft respectively in height – the former is more similar to another Premier League footballer in terms of his figures on the field, as he compares favourably to Aston Villa hotshot, Ollie Watkins, according to FBref.
Not that Wolves fans will want reminding, but Villa's star man is coming off the back of another impressive campaign, with Watkins netting 15 goals in 37 Premier League games and assisting six more.
That is a near identical return to Toure when factoring in minutes played, with the Malian scoring 0.46 goals per 90 minutes, as per FBref, and registering 0.13 assists, compared to 0.43 and 0.17 goals for Watkins in the same two metrics.
Watkins may have scored more goals last season, though the numbers show Toure was just as – if not more – deadly, scoring from 0.23 of his shots, compared to 0.17 for the Villa player.
The comparisons do not stop there, either, as they were very similar last season in terms of passes completed (71.6% for Toure and 69.1% for Watkins), touches (28.9 and 26.7) and aerial duels won (47.5% and 41.2%).
Watkins may be at a more advanced stage in his career, but if Wolves are looking for a player of similar stature to lead their own charge for European football, then a move for Toure makes complete sense.
