Wolves might pull off an impressive transfer coup

I would like to get into a time machine, go to 2005, and tell a football fan from 20 years ago that Wolverhampton Wanderers and AC Milan are rivals in a transfer. Somehow, these are now teams with similar budgets, and they’re the two clubs currently in negotiations to sign Almeria right back Marc Pubill.

Rudy Galetti says that Wolves are currently leading the race, and that it’ll probably cost about £16.5m to sign Pubill. The 22-year-old played in La Liga 2 last season, and he looks like a super versatile defender. Recently, he starred for Spain in the UEFA Under-21 Championships, which likely brought him to the attention of Wolves and Milan, or at least led them to believe they needed to accelerate their interest.

If you’re a Wolves supporter, this is the kind of player you want to see your team targeting: Experienced enough to contribute now, but pre-prime, very good value for money, and an interesting statistical profile. Pubill looks like he can both play with the ball and defend competently.

You might be wondering what’s up with the off-the charts aerial wins. Pubill is 6’3” (190cm) and looks like he has outstanding jumping and heading ability on tape. Though he’s played most of his career as a regular right back in a 4, he’d be a great fit as an outside center back in a back 3, which Wolves have used frequently in their recent history.

With Nélson Semedo departing Wolves this summer, they’re very much in need of a new right back, and they’ve found a very promising one if they can lock up the signing of Pubill.

More transfer rumours

• Leeds are close to signing a pair of defensively-minded central midfielders. One I’m excited about, and the other less so. First, the less exciting news: £12m for Sean Longstaff. He hasn’t played much for Newcastle recently, or provided much besides a willingness to run. But I do really like the reported £17m move for Anton Stach, who was an excellent ball winner for Hoffenheim last season

• After losing out on Jordan Henderson to Brentford, Sunderland have entered the race for another deep-lying central midfielder with captaincy experience: Granit Xhaka. Bayer Leverkusen are willing to let him go for a reasonable fee, but Xhaka has been rumoured to prefer a move back to his native Switzerland.

• Speaking of Brentford, they’re pushing hard to sign Omari Hutchinson from Ipswich as a potential replacement for Bryan Mbeumo. He’s not coming off a great season, but he was outstanding in the Championship and I think he’d be worth the gamble for someone.

• Burnley are negotiating to sign Andrea Pinamonti from Sassuolo, which I don’t love for the Clarets. He’s scored double-digit goals in Serie A two seasons in a row, for Sassuolo and on loan to Genoa this year, but he does not get a high volume of good shots, nor do anything else at a high level.

• Alejandro Garnacho has turned down a move to Saudi Arabia. He does not seem to have a hot market, though all of Aston Villa, Tottenham, and Chelsea apparently remain interested at the right price. Smells like agent yapping.

• Roma want Evan Ferguson, but Brighton want £39m. I suspect they’ll negotiate down to £30m-ish, or a loan with obligation to buy at a higher fee next summer.

• Chelsea would much rather sell João Félix to Benfica than loan him, which makes sense given their UEFA FFP predicament. However, they’d need to get around £40m to avoid a future Premier League PSR accounting hit, which I can’t imagine they’ll get. Benfica want to do a deal where they buy him cheap, but with a 50% sell-on clause, which does nothing for Chelsea’s accounting problems with either organizing body they’re in constant conflict with.

• Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott appears to be in demand, with both West Ham and Tottenham looking into signing him. I like Elliott a lot and think he’s going to be extremely productive if he takes a slight step down and becomes a first choice player.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, we’d appreciate it if you would forward it to a friend. If you’re that friend, welcome! You can subscribe to The Transfer Flow here. We also have a podcast where we go in depth on transfer news and rumours every week. We’re on YouTube here, and you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify by searching for “The Transfer Flow Podcast.”