'Hijack at eleventh hour' - Wolves medical booked for £21m Aston Villa target but Tottenham swoop in late

Wolves have had a breakthrough in negotiations with RC Lens and were expected to complete the loan signing of defender Kevin Danso before the transfer deadline.

The Telegraph had reportedWolves were very close to bringing in Danso on a straight loan deal, with a medical booked in for Sunday. A bid of £21 million was rejected for a permanent deal. Transfer news specialist Fabrizio Romano then confirmed this, reporting the final details were being ironed out.

A huge twist has since emerged, however, with Tottenham suddenly rearing their heads for an eleventh-hour hijack. Both The Telegraph and Fabrizio Romano have reported Danso has now decided to turn down Wolves in a favour of a move to Ange Postecoglou’s side. Details of the Spurs deal are now being concluded.

Wolves first began dialogue with Lens at the start of January but decided to proceed with the £16 million signing of Emmanuel Agbadou instead. Vitor Pereira reconsidered a while after, however, feeling another defensive reinforcement was required. Wolves re-entered talks for Danso a week or so ago but in hindsight should’ve acted quicker.

It’s a great shame as the Old Gold were set to beat a host of top European clubs to the centre-back’s signature in what would be a significant coup. Danso, 24 times a full Austria international, is currently enjoying a fourth successive season as a regular starter in Ligue 1 and has proven himself as one of the division’s best in his position.

Birmingham World understands Wolves had already seen two bids rejected for Danso, one totalling £16 million and the other worth around £18.5 million last week. Aston Villa, who the Old Gold have just inflicted a 2-0 defeat upon in the local derby, made an enquiry to Lens but didn’t progress to advanced talks.

Fellow Premier League clubs Newcastle United, West Ham United and Everton have all been linked with Danso in the past 12 months. Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, Atalanta, Napoli, Stuttgart, Galatasararay and Fenerbahce have all shown interest, too.

Vitor Pereira responds to Kevin Danso news

Wolves’ head coach was very cool, calm and collected when asked Danso. Pereira has admitted on several occasions that another new signing or two would be ideal before the end of the window but he wouldn’t confirm or deny anything about any individuals.

“Kevin Danso is a player from another club, I cannot speak about it at this moment. I believe a lot about my players but to sleep well and have solutions we need one or two players to add and help us,” Pereira said after the win over Villa.

At the time of these comments, Pereira would’ve been unaware of the player’s U-turn decision to join Tottenham instead. Wolves are understood to be furious.