Money in football has officially gone too far. Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers are, according to A Bola (a Portuguese news website), set to sign Benfica midfielder Anderson Talisca in a deal worth £20 million.
The move would see Talisca become by far the most expensive player signed by a Championship team in the history of the division, almost doubling the record that was set by Burnley when they signed Andre Gray from Brentford at the start of last season.
A major reason why Wolves are now able to shell out such a ridiculous sum of money is due to their new Chinese owners – the Fosun group. The chairman of the group, Guo Guangchang is reportedly worth around £4.1 billion so the signings made by Wolves this summer won’t even scratch the surface of his enormous wealth. The club itself only cost the billionaire £30 million, so the signing of Talisca would make him almost worth as much as the club itself.
Talisca is only 22 years old but already has 2 years of first team experience under his belt at Benfica. The Portuguese outfit have won the Primeira Liga for the past 3 seasons, the last 2 of those with Talisca playing a pivotal role in the midfield. With two league titles already under his belt, the youngster has plenty of experience playing at the top level.
During his two seasons in Portugal, Talisca has played a total of 52 games and scored a remarkable 12 goals. Considering he plays in midfield, this is an incredible goals to game ratio.
He shot in to the spotlight when he lit up a tie between Monaco and Benfica back in 2014, scoring the only goal of the game in a performance which saw him linked to a whole host of top sides like Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. It’s hard to see why he wasn’t signed by a top side at the time, as the 22-year old continues to put in quality performances on a weekly basis. Obviously these performances came with a few clumsy moments, but that is expected of a player who at the time was just 20 years of age.
This signing shows a huge sign of intent from the new owners, and could definitely see Wolves return to the top flight within the next few years, where they have been absent since their relegation in 2012.
