Wolverhampton Wanderers have decided to loan out Christian Marques.
The youngster made a move to Portuguese outfit Belenenses earlier this week.
It is his first loan move, and a chance to get some invaluable experience of senior football.
The 18-year-old is someone with huge potential, and there are definitely high hopes for him.
It is always important for young players to get early experience of playing senior football.
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U23s football is a good environment in which to develop, but nothing quite compares to first-team football.
The Portuguese top-flight recently displaced Ligue 1 as a European top five league, so the move could be good for Marques.
Whether this move is going to suit Wolves though is debatable.
The club did not sign a new central defender in addition to youngster Yerson Mosquera this summer.
Bruno Lage is undoubtedly short of options and any injuries could make life problematic.
Willy Boly’s record with injuries is far from perfect. And young Mosquera has already suffered a hamstring issue, from which he has now recovered.
Boly and Romain Saiss will be heading to the Africa Cup of Nations with their countries in January.
Wolves could well sign a centre-half in the next window to account for that, but it just seems a risk to have let Marques go. Just like letting Morgan Gibbs-White depart on loan for Sheffield United without getting another midfielder in is also a risk.
Have Wolves been too hasty?
Granted, Marques – who cost Wolves around £360,000 back in January 2019 (The Athletic) – has not yet made his competitive first-team debut for Wolves.
But he made the bench a few times last term under Nuno Espirito Santo.
Maybe he could have been kept around just to provide a bit more cover until January.
With Lage currently using a three-man defence, that is surely reason to have more defensive cover.
Allowing Marques to go to Belenenses might be good for him, but it is definitely a bit of a risky move by Wolves.
Perhaps Lage will consider using Fernando Marcal and Ki-Jana Hoever at left and right centre-back respectively if he needs.