Wolves have confirmed that Boubacar Traore will come a permanent player at the club this summer.
The midfielder was signed last summer on loan from French club FC Metz.
Wanderers signed Traore on deadline day, and actually had to fly officials over the France to oversee his medical.
Wolves struck a deal with Metz to sign Traore on a loan basis. And it has always been known Wolves stood to sign the player for just under £10 million in the summer of 2023.
Recently, it was reported that the clause was actually set to be automatically triggered based on games played.
And now, Wolves have announced that Traore will indeed be purchased on July 1. They have not stated specifically what clauses have been met.
He will sign a four-year contract, and the club will hold an option to extend by a further 12 months.
Sporting director Matt Hobbs has been speaking about the news, and admitted Traore was always going to become a permanent player for Wolves given the nature of the clauses.
Hobbs also revealed he had taken a number of trips to France to watch him before the club swooped last summer.
He said: “The way the deal was structured, Bouba was always going to become our player, but to be able to make it official is very satisfying. For me, it’s a really exciting signing and I think we can all see he’s been a real success so far.
“Bouba was a player we had wanted for a while. I took many trips over to France to watch him. He was someone we looked at bringing into the club this time last year. Although it wasn’t possible then, we worked hard to bring him in during the summer.”
Traore hasn’t actually played in a competitive game yet under new manager Julen Lopetegui.
The star has been nursing an injury he picked up out in Marbella during the World Cup.
Last week, he was pictured back in the gym and the hope is that he will be back doing outdoor training again very soon.
Boubacar Traore can become a staple in Wolves’ midfield, as club confirm he will be signed permanently this summer
So Traore will be purchased in the summer, in a move by Wolves that mirrors the Hwang Hee-chan scenario a year ago.
Getting Traore in for £10 million is really good business by the club.
So far, the player has shown he is a Premier League-quality midfielder.
Sure, he’s quite raw at the moment. His technical attributes will need to improve moving forwards. But he has a brilliant engine and he’s very tenacious.
There’s every chance that working under Lopetegui will help improve his game massively.
Wolves could be losing Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho and Matheus Nunes in the summer. So it’s very important that he develops well in the coming months. Because potentially, he’ll be a starting midfielder from 2023/24 onwards.