Wolves are now set to lose out on one of their striker targets to Premier League side Brentford.
Gary O’Neil is in the market for a new centre forward this month after allowing Sasa Kalajdzic and Fabio Silva to leave on loan.
In the aftermath of Tuesday’s 3-2 victory over Brentford in the FA Cup, O’Neil did state he was ‘confident’ that a new striker would arrive at Molineux, but didn’t offer any names.
It’s difficult to decipher who could be on his radar as so many players have been linked with a move, including Getafe’s Borja Mayoral, West Ham United’s Danny Ings and Chelsea’s Armando Broja.
One name that could be crossed off the list, however, is PSG forward Hugo Ekitike.
Brentford could beat Wolves to Hugo Ekitike
Wolves are long-term admirers of the Frenchman and were reportedly in the race with Eintracht Frankfurt for his signature.
However, when it was revealed that the Bundesliga side would only be able to offer him £48k-a-week, it was thought to have handed Wolves the advantage in their pursuit.
As an established Premier League club, they can offer a greater financial package than Frankfurt, but that doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to secure a deal for him.
They have found that throughout this transfer saga, new clubs display their interest all the time and the latest of those is Brentford.
According to RMC Sport, the Bees and Wolfsburg have submitted a loan offer with an option to buy Ekitike this month.
With PSG still assessing all of the offers on the table, there’s still a chance that the Wanderers can swoop in, but it appears other clubs are stealing a march in the race to sign him.
Missing out on Ekitike wouldn’t be a huge loss
Although he’s undoubtedly a talented striker after previously being hailed as “special” by Oscar Garcia at Stade Reims, missing out on Ekitike wouldn’t be the end of the world for Wolves.
Yes, they desperately need to sign a striker so Nathan Fraser can be sent out on loan, but their French target has hardly torn up any trees.
The 21-year-old has only reached double figures once in a season and that was during his time at Ligue 1 side Reims.
After securing a transfer to PSG, he’s only made 33 appearances and scored four times.
In a league that is statistically worse in quality than the Premier League, those aren’t impressive numbers at all and the Old Gold would be taking a huge gamble on him.
There are certainly better strikers to target out there and although it’s difficult to find someone decent to join on loan, losing out on Ekitike could be a blessing in disguise.