Wolves have today confirmed the signing of Bastien Meupiyou from Nantes.
The club reached an agreement with the French side last week, though to be worth around £4.2 million initially.
Meupiyou only made one first-team appearance for Nantes but had impressed at youth level and had a number of ‘top-end clubs’ on his tail.
But Wolves managed to stave off the competition to sign the highly-rated youngster, who will now be hoping to make his mark at Molineux.
Initially, he will need time to settle, and he could perhaps feature for the U21s.
But Wolves have high hopes for the player and believe he could soon become a first-teamer.
He is a player the club have actually kept tabs on for a fair while, despite Wolves’ interest only recently becoming public.
Wolves have scouted Bastien Meupiyou since the 2022/23 season and also spotted Pedro Lima while watching him
Quite often these days, a player will be linked with Wolves fairly out of the blue, and then when they sign for the club, it comes out that Wolves have been tracking them for quite a while.
That was the case with one signing earlier this summer, Pedro Lima, who joined the club for £8.5 million from Sport Recife.
Wolves hijacking Chelsea’s move for Lima seemed to come out of nowhere, but the club had actually known about him for quite a while before.
Today, after announcing Meupiyou, Wolves have shared with fans when they actually first scouted the exciting teenager.
In a scouting report of the player, they say: “Wolves’ recruitment team first reported on Meupiyou during the 2022/23 season while he playing for Nantes in the UEFA Youth League.
“Being a 16-year-old playing in an under-19 competition, the defender was flagged up onto Wolves’ system as one to keep an eye on. He could not be signed at the time because of registration rules of players under 18.”
Wolves then say that in 2023, they received a report from a scout on centre-back, after they had watched him play for France against Scotland’s U17s.
Then he was watched at the U17s Euros, followed by the U17s World Cup. And, interestingly, it was actually at that U17s World Cup where Wolves first scouted Lima.
Good luck, Bastien
It sounds very much as though Wolves have been very thorough in their scouting of Meupiyou, who will hopefully be able to settle as quickly as possible at the club.
There are a few French speakers at Compton, including Mario Lemina, Boubacar Traore and Rayan Ait-Nouri. Matheus Cunha can also converse.
He will be in good hands. Sporting director Hobbs has already spoken about there being no pressure on him, and it’s clear everyone just wants him to be comfortable initially.
Hopefully, we will soon see him shine. It would be fantastic if this young talent could force his way into that first-team squad in his first season.