Wolves have made three solid new signings so far this summer, but one player who is thought to be of interest could represent a bit of a risk.
Wolves have landed Rodrigo Gomes, Pedro Lima and Jorgen Strand Larsen, so far this summer and all have made great impressions in pre-season.
Tommy Doyle also turned his loan move from Manchester City permanent, and we all know what he can do.
Wolves have been quiet over the past month or so, but things could pick up again now with less than two weeks to go until the start of the new season.
One player who has been linked with Wolves in recent days is Sam Johnstone – and it can be argued that this would be a strange move by the club.
Why Sam Johnstone could be a risky signing for Wolves
It was reported yesterday by David Ornstein that Wolves are one of a few clubs taking an interest in Johnstone at the moment.
The 31-year-old has been told by Oliver Glasner at Crystal Palace that he will not be their number one this season, and he therefore wants out. Palace would look to sell for £10 million.
Now, Johnstone would not want to move on to become a number two at another club.
So Wolves’ interest is very intriguing, and now casts some doubt over the future of Jose Sa at Molineux. Sa was linked with an exit earlier this summer, with Jorge Mendes sounding out interest in the player.
Wolves signing Johnstone would be very interesting.
On the face of it, he is not an obvious upgrade on Sa. WhoScored reported that he had the second-worst save percentage in the Premier League last season with 59.4% (of goalkeepers to make 20+ appearances). Only Ederson of Manchester City had a lower percentage (57.8%).
By comparison Sa, according to fbref, had a percentage of 73.4%.
We know that O’Neil wants Wolves to be better at playing out from the back. One criticism that has been levelled at Sa is that his ball-playing and distribution aren’t at the level required.
However, Johnstone had a lower pass completion rate than Sa last season (57.3% vs 65.6%).
But perhaps one reason why O’Neil might want him is that Johnstone appears to be less risky. Fbref data indicates that Johnstone made zero errors leading to an opponent’s shot last season in the Premier League. Sa made five.
Wolves’ hand could be forced
The interest in Johnstone is intriguing because the goalkeeping department at Wolves is not in desperate need of changes.
Sa has the potential to make errors, but he also does win Wolves a fair few points in the Premier League and his shot-stopping has been generally very good during his time at Molineux.
But it might be that something is happening with him behind the scenes. Surely, Wolves would not be looking at Johnstone if there wasn’t. Because Johnstone is not going to want to become a number two at another club.
Wolves’ hand could be forced by the Portuguese.
If Johnstone is to come in, then the club are taking a risk. That said, he has a lot of Premier League experience and will probably bring more calm at the back than Sa does.