Wolves: Guido Rodriguez could be a Gomes upgrade

Wolverhampton Wanderers are yet to splash the cash on a player who was not already at their disposal during the 2022/23 campaign this summer.

Who have Wolves signed so far?

Boubacar Traore and Matheus Cunha have both been brought in on a permanent basis after their loan spells at the Molineux last term.

They have also signed Matt Doherty and Tom King, from Atletico Madrid and Northampton Town respectively, on free transfers to pad out the squad.

Julen Lopetegui still has just under a month left to complete any further business that he would like to do to improve his side and a new central midfielder appears to be on the agenda.

Italian journalist Rudy Galetti recently told GIVEMESPORT that the club have had contact with Real Betis over a possible deal to sign Guido Rodriguez, although there is nothing concrete between the two sides at this point.

How good is Guido Rodriguez?

The experienced £28k-per-week enforcer, who helped Argentina to win the World Cup in Qatar last year, has proven himself to be a superb performer in LaLiga and could come in as an immediate upgrade on Joao Gomes for Wolves.

Lopetegui signed the Brazilian midfielder from Flamengo for £15m in January and the 22-year-old ace showed signs of promise in his first five months in England.

Gomes averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.78 across 11 Premier League matches, which was the 11th-highest score within the squad, and caught the eye with a club-leading 2.6 tackles per game.

This shows that the talented youngster was not one of the team’s outstanding performers in general but was able to win the ball back through his tackling ability more often than any of his teammates.

Rodriguez could come in as a better short-term option than Gomes for Lopetegui, based on his displays for Real Betis. Last season, the 29-year-old battler averaged an excellent Sofascore rating of 7.07 across 34 games and made a superb 3.4 tackles per outing, which is more than any Wolves player managed.

In fact, the Argentine ace, who was described as a “monster” by analyst Marcus Bring, has averaged a Sofascore rating of 7.02 or higher in each of the last three La Liga seasons.

Meanwhile, only Ruben Neves (7.23) averaged a greater score for the club last season out of all players with at least five Premier League appearances.

This suggests, particularly now that the Portugal international has left Wolves, that Rodriguez has the potential to be Lopetegui’s top performer this season if he is able to translate his form over to English football.

The Betis star could, therefore, be a big upgrade on Gomes in terms of his average performance level and his ability to win possession back for the team more frequently through making tackles in midfield.

He also completed a higher percentage of his attempted passes (87%) than the Brazilian gem (78%), which suggests that the Wolves target could also be more reliable on the ball.

However, this does not have to be a negative for Gomes as Rodriguez could be a dream mentor for the 22-year-old prospect. He could learn from the World Cup winner and lean on his experience and quality to develop his own game over the years to come.