Matthis Abline has now responded to the interest shown by Wolves in the summer transfer window.
Wolves were linked to Abline as a possible signing to strengthen Vitor Pereira’s attacking options.
The 22-year-old striker has been impressing in France, scoring 11 goals last season for FC Nantes.
Transfer links gathered pace as it became evident that Jorge Mendes has been pushing for Wolves to sign Abline, who is also generating interest elsewhere.
Matthis Abline says no to Wolves
Being young and capable of impressing in the French top flight, Abline has a lot of suitors.
It’s not only outside interest that has become a problem for Wolves’ pursuit, but his price tag also.
Nantes value Abline at an eye-watering £43m, which came to light after the club rejected an offer of £22m from fellow French side Paris FC.
If that wasn’t an issue enough for the Old Gold, then the player’s response to Wolves’ transfer interest has truly thrown a spanner in the works.
As per the understanding of journalist Fabrice Hawkins, Abline ‘said no’ to Wolves in favour of remaining in Ligue 1.
Hawkins noted that Wolves were ‘considering’ making an offer in the region of €25m (£21m) for the striker, a fee almost identical to the offer rejected from Paris.
It’s a frustrating scenario, particularly after the Premier League side learned that the player’s price tag was £20m more than the price they were preparing to offer.
Abline doesn’t want to join Wolves, with the 22-year-old seeing his immediate future in France.
Three summer rejections for Fosun
It’s frustrating for fans and Pereira that the Wolves manager can’t get his favoured targets over the line.
Sadly, the situation follows from two rejections, as Marc Pubill chose Atletico Madrid over Wolves, followed by Juanlu Sanchez’s snub in favour of Napoli.
While it’s clear as to why the Old Gold were turned down in those instances, it must be a wake-up call to the project Fosun and Jeff Shi can present to targets, with Wolves currently having little scope when it comes to progressing up the table.
The bottom line is that Pereira needs new faces to strengthen his side, particularly with the season just days away from starting and other clubs bolstering their options in the window.