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According to The Times, Wolves have approached Burnley to enquire about defender James Tarkowski with the hope of bringing him to Molineux this summer.
What’s the word?
Tarkowski has managed to establish himself as one of the most solid English defenders in the Premier League in recent years.
He enjoyed a tremendous season in 2017/18 but dropped off the pace slightly alongside the rest of the Burnley side last term.
Despite that, he’s still found himself among Gareth Southgate’s England squads.
His indifferent form hasn’t put potential suitors off him either. Leicester reportedly want him as a potential Harry Maguire replacement but now Wolves are also showing an interest.
The Times claim that the club have made an enquiry for the central defender who is rated at £16.2m per Transfermarkt.
Improvement necessary
There’s no doubting that Tarkowski wouldn’t be a solid acquisition for Wolves. For starters, he’d add further depth to a squad who were lacking in that regard last season.
Wolves used a regular back three of Conor Coady, Willy Boly and Ryan Bennett but the England international will have to improve in a key area if he’s to dislodge any of them should he arrive at Molineux.
Assessing the stats, the 26-year-old is particularly poor when it comes to his passing. In the Premier League throughout 2018/19 he boasted a pass success of just 69.5%.
It’s a number that doesn’t come close to any of Wolves’ main central defenders.
Coady finished the campaign with a success rate of 84.3% whilst Boly completed 81% of his passes. Bennett, on the other hand, was also better, picking out a teammate 79.6% of the time.
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Wolves have established themselves as a side who like to play between the lines and get the ball forward quickly on the counter-attack.
However, by signing Tarkowski this could put that particular aspect of their play at risk.
The defender has strengths in other areas but as far as his passing goes, there is a considerable improvement to be made if he does walk through the doors at Wolves this summer.