'Mbappe, Neymar, Messi' - £17m new Wolves signing makes tantalising claim about team-mate's quality
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Brand new Wolverhampton Wanderers signing Marshall Munetsi has offered a glowing review of team-mate Emmanual Agbadou, who the Zimbabwe international played with a Stade Reims, in a video released by the club on Tuesday.
The clip shows Munetsi, who signed a three-and-a-half year contract with the Old Gold after transferring from Reims on deadline day in a deal reportedly worth up to £17m, jokingly asking whether he can be on the same training team as his old team-mate.
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Hide Ad“Every training session, can you please put me in the same team with Agbae,” Munetsi asks. “He’s a strong guy. One thing about him is that he will give you 100 per cent. He’s always very motivated.”
“Even when you have Mbappe, Neymar, Messi, you’d always know Agba, with his speed and also his strength, can be able to manage.”
Munetsi’s former team-mate could be key in the relegation battle
Munetsi was clearly delighted to be reunited with his old Stade Reims team-mate, with whom he shared a dressing room for three years after Agbadou joined from Belgian outfit Eupen in 2022.
The 27-year-old defender, who signed for Wolves earlier in the January transfer window and has already made four appearances for his new club, played 95 times for Reims, mostly alongside Zimbabwean midfielder Munetsi, whose signing was confirmed late on deadline day.
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Hide AdMunetsi, who had been with Reims for six years after transferring from South African side Orlando Pirates, may not have been exaggerating about Agbadou’s ability to handle the best in the world – they have faced Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar together on multiple occasions when the three high-profile forwards played for Paris Saint-Germain.
Since Agbadou signed for Stade Reims in 2022, they have lost just one game against the perennial French champions, which provides some strong evidence to back Munetsi’s point up.
Agbadou has impressed in his first few outings since arriving at the Molineux, putting in particularly strong displays against Arsenal and Aston Villa over the past fortnight, and his form at the back has raised hopes that Vitor Pereira can tighten up a defence which has struggled to prevent goals all season.
Further defensive reinforcements on deadline day
Agbadou and Munetsi aren’t the only new signings – Wolves also got a late deal for highly-rated Red Star Belgrade defender Nasser Djiga over the line at the very end of the transfer deadline. The Burkinabe centre-half reportedly set the Old Gold back around £10m.
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Hide AdThe other key deal made on deadline day saw exiled former club captain Mario Lemina complete a £3m move to Turkish league leaders Galatasaray. The Gabonese midfielder, who had been named the Supporters’ Player of the Year for the 2023/24 season, had asked to leave the club in December following a fracas after a game against West Ham and was subsequently dropped by Pereira due to his attitude. A proposed swap deal which would have seen former skipper Conor Coady return from Leicester City, with Craig Dawson going the other way, fell through.
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