Wolves have suffered a blow in their transfer pursuit of Takumi Minamino after it’s been revealed that the Liverpool ace has turned down a move to Molineux in order to join Monaco.
The Lowdown: On the brink of an exit
The 27-year-old has been heavily linked with a move away from Anfield for some time now after experiencing a serious lack of minutes having fallen down the pecking order under Jurgen Klopp, managing just one Premier League start for the Reds throughout the whole of last season.
Wanderers were just one of the many clubs tracking the midfielder for a potential summer move, with Bruno Lage hoping that he could lure the maestro into making the switch to the Midlands.
The Latest: Minamino rejects Wolves
In a new report from Football Insider, it’s claimed that Minamino has ‘rejected a move’ to Wolves and instead has decided to put pen to paper on a deal with Monaco.
A recruitment source told the website that Liverpool did receive ‘an offer’ from the club, but state that the Japanese ace ‘preferred the proposal’ of the French giants.
The Ligue 1 club side are now said to have ‘agreed a £15.5m fee’ with the Reds for their target, who is expected to officially complete his move in the coming days.
The Verdict: Worrying times for Lage
Wolves have clearly made the final third a priority in this transfer window after a disappointing end to the 2021/22 season, but the fact that they have now missed out on Minamino, who was once dubbed an “absolutely outstanding” player by Klopp, isn’t a great start.
Lage will be desperate to bolster his front line after Raul Jimenez only managed to score six goals all campaign, but if his other transfer targets are seeing that people are voluntarily refusing to join the club, there’s a high likelihood that they are going to feel the same, making it twice as hard to attract new signings.
Whether the boss will be successful in bringing an attacker in before the start of the new season yet remains to be seen, but he will now need to go like clockwork if he wants any chance of his squad regaining a place in Europe next term.