Wolves will almost definitely sign Boubacar Traore on a permanent basis next summer, according to The Athletic's Steve Madeley. 

The lowdown

The Old Gold signed Traore on loan from Ligue 1 outfit Metz on Transfer Deadline Day with a view to a possible £9.8million transfer.

The central midfielder played his first minutes in a Wolves shirt as a substitute against Manchester City last time out and is now in contention to make his full debut for the Midlands club against West Ham United on Saturday evening.

The latest

Madeley says that Wolves' purchase option will incur an obligation to buy if Traore makes 'a handful of Premier League starts', and it seems that he is bound to reach that threshold, leading to a potential five-year deal at Molineux.

He wrote for The Athletic: "Traore will spend this season on loan but, with only a handful of Premier League starts required to trigger an automatic purchase, he is almost certain to become a permanent signing next summer on a four-year deal with an option for a further season."

The verdict

Traore could have a lot to offer Wolves in the coming years.

Similar in profile to Aston Villa's John McGinn, he ranks in the very highest percentile among positional peers in the big five European leagues for pressures per 90, the 91st percentile for tackles, the 85th percentile for blocks and the 89th percentile for dribbles completed (via FBRef).

This highlights a midfielder who is well able to do the important off-the-ball work while also being confident and skilled enough to take on and beat opponents.

His cameo against Man City has already offered some encouragement, with the Malian winning both ground duels that he contested, making two tackles, blocking one shot and completing seven out of eight passes for a team who were down to 10 men (via SofaScore).

Hopefully we will see plenty more of him in a Wolves shirt, possibly starting this evening against West Ham.