Club Brugge defender Odilon Kossounou has reportedly emerged as a transfer target for Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Sun have claimed the talented 20-year-old is on Nuno Espirito Santo’s transfer radar this summer, but just who is the starlet from the Ivory Coast>
He’s from the ASEC Mimosas academy
Kossounou has been with Brugge since the summer of 2019 after arriving from Hammarby.
Before making his professional debut with the Swedish outfit though, he was coming up through the youth ranks at Ivorian outfit ASEC Mimosas, which is responsible for producing some very well-known Ivorian players down the years.
Kolo and Yaya Toure, Gervinho, Emmanuel Eboue, Salmon Kalou, Jean Michael Seri and Didier Zokora were all on the books of the club, before making names for themselves in Europe.
He’s already played with Willy Boly
Kossounou is already acquainted with Wolves defender Willy Boly, with the pair both senior Ivory Coast internationals.
The pair both started the most recent AFCON qualifier against Madagascar, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
A number of teams are on his tail
According to The Sun’s report, both Milan clubs are chasing Kossounou, as well as Premier League champions Liverpool, suggesting the star has massive potential.
A further report from the Mirror claims Arsenal are also looking at the £20 million-rated star, with the Gunners no strangers to an Ivorian or two down the years.
He signed a new contract until 2024 last month, so whoever is going to sign him will not be getting him on a cut-price deal.
A solid tackler
Kossounou is known for being particularly strong in the tackling department.
According to information provided by Soccerment in an article dated January 12, ‘Defensively, Kossounou has been dominant so far in his career in Belgium. He is averaging 1.57 tackles per 90 minutes (vs the 1.38 average for the role), with an impressive tackle success ratio of 80.8% (vs the 65.8% average for the role)’.
“While one might think that this has to do with the level of the Jupiler Pro League as compared to the top 5 leagues, we note that Kossounou also has an 80% tackling success rate in the UEFA Champions League, where he has won 12 of his 15 attempted tackles so far.”
The article notes that Kossounou is also a great passer, but could work on his aerial prowess.