Wolverhampton Wanderers are reportedly closing in on their fifth signing of the transfer window.

The Old Gold are set to conclude a summer-long hunt for a new central defender as talks are now at an advanced stage to bring in a La Liga star. Vitor Pereira has been unsatisfied with the depth across his back three for a while now and is finally expected to be granted his wish of a reinforcement.

As much as veteran defender Matt Doherty has played well at centre-back at times, it’s not his natural position. There has also been an inability to rotate elsewhere in the three as Toti Gomes is the only left-footed centre-half in the senior squad.

Pereira will finally have more room for manoeuvre as Wolves are not only expected to bring in a new centre-half, but one who’s left-footed. One signing certainly won’t fix all of Wanderers’ pitfalls, but it could help paper over some of the cracks.

Wolves ‘deal done’ to sign £30m defender

After initially registering an interest, Wolves have decided to proceed for Girona centre-back Ladislav Krejci. Transfer news guru Fabrizio Romano reports the club-to-club deal is now ‘done’ for a fee close to €35 million (£30.2m).

Wolves have been rejected by many of their transfer targets this summer - including Barcelona left-back Gerard Martin, Sevilla right-back Juanlu Sanchez and Nantes attacking midfielder Matthis Abline - but Krejci is not expected to be the next.

Instead, Romano reports Krejci has ‘already said yes’ to Wolves, with personal terms not thought to be an issue. Once Wanderers have ironed all of that out, Krejci can travel to the West Midlands for a medical and sign his contract.

Who is Ladislav Krejci?

On track to become Wolves’ fifth signing of the 2025 summer transfer window, Krejci is a central defender currently playing for La Liga club Girona. The 26-year-old can also play as a defensive midfielder or at left-back, offering Pereira some much-needed depth in several areas.

As Krejci only signed from Sparta Prague last summer in a deal worth around €12 million (£10.4m), Girona are set to bank a huge profit. The 20-time Czech Republic international had a decent first season in La Liga but was part of the fourth-worst defence in the division and didn’t do anything mind-blowing.

Krejci was among the best central defenders in the Spanish top flight with the ball at his feet as, per 90 minutes, he registered 89.1 touches and 70.4 successful passes. Krejci also maintained an impressive 90.1% pass completion rate, while he notched 3.73 recoveries and 1.25 interceptions per 90.

Krejci was let down a little by some of his defensive numbers, though, as he only completed a tackle on average once every two matches and won just 59% of his duels. As La Liga is less physical than the Premier League, those statistics could go on to suffer even further.

It’s perhaps a little difficult to justify the huge fee Wolves are forcing out, then, but left-footed centre-backs come at a premium. Krejci’s versatility ups his value, too. The centre-half is also a huge goalscoring threat as he has remarkably scored 53 goals in 256 career appearances. Of those, 24 have come from 108 outings as a centre-back.