Wolves missed out on signing a youngster thriving in the second tier
With a 4-2 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge yesterday, Wolverhampton Wanderers completed a Premier League double, and it appears that Gary O’Neil’s choice to hold off on signing anyone on deadline day may have paid off.
During the January transfer window, they were connected to a midfield player who is excelling for Birmingham City in the Championship this year. Might they regret not taking action?
In an attempt to strengthen their roster, Wolves expressed interest in signing Jordan James in the last moments of the transfer window.
The young player was eventually not sold before the deadline, with Birmingham demanding a value of approximately £10 million for him.
The 19-year-old would have been a wise addition given his potential in the future and the possibility that he was an improvement over Boubacar Traore.
James has scored six goals in 27 games this season, created one huge opportunity, and averaged 0.4 critical passes per game, indicating that he can provide some threat from the midfield core.
Given that Traore has averaged 0.3 important passes while failing to score a goal and creating a significant opportunity, it is obvious who poses a greater attacking danger between the two.
In terms of defence, James has outperformed the 22-year-old Molineux star by winning more total duels per game (3.4 vs. 1.8), making more tackles per game (1.3 vs. 1.1), and intercepting more passes per game (0.7 vs. 0.3).
Even if these numbers don’t seem remarkable, they do show that he can move ahead at all times, and as he becomes older and more experienced, these numbers will undoubtedly rise significantly.
James may be yet another outstanding talent to come out of Birmingham, and O’Neil made a grave mistake last month when he chose not to include him in the Old Gold team.
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