Wolves have 'agreed' £10m January transfer exit for 28-year-old, deal to be finalised on Wednesday - report
Wolves boss Rob Edwards will be looking to put his own stamp on his newly inherited squad this winter
Wolves are back in Premier League action this weekend with an away trip to the Etihad Stadium to play Manchester City. They drew 0-0 at home with Newcastle United last time out. Rob Edwards’ side have seen an upturn in performance levels over recent times.
Edwards was picked as their replacement for Vitor Pereira earlier this winter. He left his role at Middlesbrough in the Championship to take over at Molineux. The Midlands outfit remain bottom of the table and are in the bottom three with West Ham and Burnley.
Wolves defender Emmanuel Agbadou transfer exit update
According to Turkish news outlet Sozcu, Wolves have ‘agreed’ a £10m deal with Besiktas for defender Emmanuel Agbadou. The centre-back is ‘expected’ to arrive in Istanbul on Tuesday or Wednesday to finalise his switch to Turkey. He is under contract until June 2029 but is poised to head out the exit door in this transfer window.
Agbadou, 28, is an Ivory Coast international with 17 caps to his name. He joined his current club for £16.6million 12 months ago to boost their defensive department. The Abidjan-born man has since made 34 appearances in all competitions, 16 of which have come this season.
He started his career with spells as a youngster at San Pedro and Monastir in Ivory Coast and Tunisia respectively before Eupen lured him to Belgium in 2020. Agbadou subsequently spent two years in the Pro League and caught the eye before landing a switch to Stade de Reims. He then became a key player for the Ligue 1 side and played 80 matches altogether, finding the net on three occasions.
What now for Wolves and Rob Edwards?
Selling Agbadou to Besiktas will free up space and funds in Wolves’ squad. That will help pave the way for reinforcements that suit Edwards more. They have until the deadline on Monday 2nd February to get some final deals over the line and they could do with some more quality.
After sealing the services of Agbadou last January, chairman Jeff Shi said: “We’re delighted to welcome Emmanuel to the club. He’s a player our recruitment team have watched for a long time and Vitor (Pereira) agreed that he was the right player and the right character to strengthen our squad now.
“It was important we completed the transfer early in the window to help Vitor straight away, and, like all transfers, this one took a lot of hard work from a lot of people. I hope Emmanuel has a successful career at Wolves, and he’ll have the full support of everyone during his time here.”
Meanwhile, ex-sporting director Matt Hobbs added: “Emmanuel’s a winner and he's driven. After the journey’s had, he's still unbelievably hungry. He’s the type of player the Wolves fans should love, because you're going to get absolutely everything he's got. On paper, he should suit the Premier League. There's plenty of ticks there. Obviously, you've always got the settling in period, and it is the hardest league in the world, so it can take time, but he can fall back on his key attributes being akin to the Premier League.”