Wolverhampton Wanderers have agreed a deal to sign Nice midfielder Mario Lemina this month, according to fresh reports.
The Premier League side have already welcomed Matheus Cunha to Molineux as Julen Lopetegui’s first new arrival of the market, and it sounds like the boss is keen to reinforce his squad further with the potential addition of the 29-year-old.
The Old Gold previously had two offers for the Gabon international rejected and were claimed to be preparing a third, and there now appears to have been a huge breakthrough in negotiations.
According to 90min‘s Graeme Bailey (21:57, Wednesday), Wolves are ‘close to finalising’ a move for Lemina having ‘agreed’ to give the French giants a fee in the region of £9.5m for his services.
The Libreville native is now set to fly to the Midlands to undergo his medical, and the report states that there’s a strong chance he could be unveiled ‘before the weekend’.
TIF thoughts on Lemina…
Lemina has been dubbed a ‘tough tackler’ by Josh Bunting and it’ll be a massive coup for Wanderers knowing that they are about to get this deal over the line.
The Nice star currently ranks in the 95th percentile for clearances, 94th for challenges made and 88th for pass success rate, highlighting the defensive qualities he will bring to the midfield (FBRef).
Lemina is no stranger to the top flight either having had previous spells at Fulham and Southampton, so he’ll no doubt be looking forward to staging his return in the coming days.