Jorgen Strand Larsen is on the brink of becoming a new Wolves player – and there is one pretty encouraging thing about the striker.
Ahead of last weekend, news surfaced that Wolves have entered into advanced talks with Celta Vigo for the player’s transfer.
This came out of nowhere, leaving fans very excited. Gary O’Neil tried to sign a new striker in January, but couldn’t in the end due to the club’s precarious financial position.
Wolves no longer have financial concerns, and have therefore been able to agree a deal worth £25 million for Strand Larsen. It is thought he will come in on loan initially, before turning it permanent when a certain amount of appearances have been made.
Strand Larsen is a big number nine. He stands at 6ft 4in tall, and he will provide some physicality up top for Wolves, as well as an aerial threat.
Two years ago, Wolves moved for a player who also had those traits in Sasa Kalajdzic. The Austrian has had a rotten time with injury since coming to England, but some fans suggested his injury record prior to joining should have made the club think twice.
Thankfully with Strand Larsen, there aren’t too many warning signs.
Jorgen Strand Larsen has an excellent injury record, as Wolves prepare to announce striker
When Wolves signed Kalajdzic from Stuttgart, a few people expressed their concerns straight away.
The Austria international had suffered an ACL injury shortly after joining the German club from Admira Wacker, and he also had shoulder, calf and ankle injuries.
After signing for Stuttgart, he missed a total of 63 games for club and country.
But Wolves still decided to sign him, and he then suffered an ACL injury on his debut against Southampton in September 2022.
Kalajdzic missed the remainder of the season. He returned for 2023/24 and after struggling for minutes at Wolves, he went out on loan to Eintracht Frankfurt in January and then suffered a third ACL injury of his career just a few games in.
As fantastic a human being as he seems, his signing was a disaster for the club. And it was perhaps one that Wolves should never have made.
Strand Larsen is coming in at Wolves and fans will be relieved to know that his injury record is very good, unlike Kalajdzic’s when he came.
As per Transfermarkt, the Norway international has missed a total of just 10 games so far in his career across spells with the AC Milan U19s, Sarpsborg 08, Groningen, Celta Vigo and the national team. That is good going considering he’s 24 and has racked up 236 club appearances and earned 14 caps.
Encouraging
It looks like Strand Larsen is a fairly durable player, which is encouraging for Wolves.
It is an underrated thing for a football to always be available, given the intensity and demands of the game today.
Strand Larsen may well have picked up more injuries so far in his career, being a physical player. But his record looks good so hopefully, he will continue in the same vein at Molineux.
It didn’t work out with Kalajdzic, and fans would very much hope that he can be the prolific number nine Wolves haven’t had since the early days of Raul Jimenez.