With the 2024 summer transfer window racing to a close, Gary O’Neil is yet to recruit his desired Premier League experienced centre-back, but Dara O'shea could be on his way to fill the void.
After the departure of last season’s club captain Max Kilman, Wolves’ recruitment staff have the job to fill the gap of a player who played every minute of the 2023/24 Premier League campaign.
Someone they have targeted is Burnley centre-back O’Shea who was relegated last season with the Clarets.
The 25-year-old was a key part of the relegated defence that conceded 78 league goals which has raised eyebrows regarding his ability.
Despite this, O’Shea has caught the eyes of the Wolves hierarchy so the Irishman must be doing something right.
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On the pitch
O’Shea has been dubbed as a modern defender with a front-foot, progressive mind that shows with his passing ability.
He completed more progressive passes than any Wolves centre-back last season with 122, that bodes well with the more comfortable possession-based football we saw O’Neil’s side play away at Arsenal in the first game of the season.
O’Shea ended the season with the seventh most progressive carries as well as the third most goals and assists per 90 minutes from any centre-back in the league last season.
In a system that provoked attacking football under his former boss Vincent Kompany, it let the defender flourish and show his positive aspects of the game.
However, his defensive ability dealt scrutiny last season in a defence that conceded the third most goals in the league.
Something that did not was his great heading ability that has already seen him score for Burnley this season and chip in three times last season.
Defensively, he won the fifth most aerial duels in the league with 127, ahead of former Wolf, Kilman with just 86, he would help the squad become more of a threat from set-pieces.
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Homegrown player rule
As it stands, Wolves would register 19 players who are non-homegrown, including players who will probably be out of the squad come the end of the window.
The homegrown player rule states that the club are not able to register more than 17 non-homegrown players, with any amount of homegrown players up to 25.
A homegrown player requires a player to have trained with an English club for at least three years before turning 21, any under-21 player is allowed to be registered as not part of the 25-man squad - such as Pedro Lima and Rodrigo Gomes.
19 would decrease to 16 if Fabio Silva, Goncalo Guedes and Daniel Podence all leave which they are expected to.
As the non-homegrown players total is close to the maximum, Wolves need to buy homegrown players - O’Shea matches that criteria.
As homegrown players tick an important box in the squad registration, it comes with a higher price; Burnley have set a £15m price tag on their defender which came as a shock after they bought the defender for £7 million just over a year ago and in the meantime got relegated.
Burnley have the ball in their court with the valuation due to interest from Brentford as well as Wolves, the Bees have also said to be in intense talks with the Irish international meaning a bidding war between the two could see the transfer fee increase.
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Barriers in the way
Despite the positives in the deal, there is still barriers to be discussed certainly for the Wolves hierarchy but also for the fans.
Rivals West Brom hold a sell-on-clause that would see them pocket 20% of any transfer worth over £7 million, a small amount of money that could massively benefit a championship club.
Similarly to the previous point, the defender also used to play for Albion which would prove hard for the Wolves faithful to be won over easily, however we have seen it done with fellow defender Craig Dawson who recently made the move across the black country despite playing with West Ham in between.
O’Neil has also stated that the club are restricting him to only £20 million for the rest of the window which would see most of the budget spent on O’Shea, the Wolves boss has also said he wants a new winger to replace the outgoing Pedro Neto and potentially more players in other positions which would end up not being financially viable.
Whether the defender would be value for money or not can only be decided if he made the move, and if the fans at Molineux would take to him straight away is another question.
