Wolverhampton wanders

Wolves could sign their own Jamie Vardy with move for “gifted” £5m Adams alternative

Published

3 weeks ago

June 15, 2024

The summer transfer window has officially opened for business, though Wolverhampton Wanderers have already completed their first signing, welcoming 20-year-old winger Rodrigo Gomes from Braga for about £13m.

Gary O’Neil’s side expect to sell Pedro Neto this summer, who is valued at £60m, and could look to spread the recouped funds across the squad to strengthen and build on last term’s 14th-place Premier League finish.

Robins pundit Tom Sandy recently claimed that the Championship outfit should be looking at the ballpark of £5m, while he’s out of contract next summer.

Southampton’s Che Adams – who is out of contract this month – has been heavily linked with a move to Molineux but recent reports suggest that a Saudi Pro League advance could scupper Old Gold plans. Enter Conway?

Tommy Conway’s style of play

Profiling the 21-year-old following his surprise inclusion in Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad for the European Championship, The Scotsman has written that he possesses speed and energy ‘akin to a Duracell Bunny’.

Tommy Conway celebrates for Bristol City.

Having scored 24 goals and placed five assists over the past two campaigns, Conway has proven himself to bear the mark of a true finisher, with such skill on show when City defeated West Ham United in the FA Cup back in January.

Statman Dave hailed his “clinical” performances across two fixtures, Conway scoring in the third-round draw before repeating the trick one week later to net the winning strike in the replay.

Tommy Conway: FA Cup Stats vs West Ham
Stats	Third round (1-1)	Third-round replay (1-0)
Minutes played	81′	61′
Goals	1	1
Shots taken	1	1
Touches	18	13
Accurate passes	6/10	7/7
Key passes	0	1
Dribble attempts	0/0	1/3
All stats via Sofascore

Said to be ‘the next Jamie Vardy’ by former Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson, Conway’s pace and deceptive power could indeed lead him to flower into Wolves’ very own version of the iconic Leicester City sharpshooter.

Vardy, the spearhead of Leicester’s incredible Premier League title triumph in 2015/16, has scored 190 goals and added 66 assists across 464 matches for the club, with his remarkable movement and prolific shooting skills the best marker of his elite-level talent.

Conway might have a long way to go but he could emulate the former England international in rising from the Championship to make a real impact at a middling Premier League side like Wolves, hoping that the gears will shift into place and advancements will be made toward the upper end.

He’s also immensely technical and boasts some of the crispest distribution around, ranking among the top 1% of forwards across divisions similar to the Championship for pass completion, as per FBref, having been dubbed a “gifted boy” by Rotherham’s Steve Evans.

With Cunha hopefully staying put and Hwang Hee-chan coming off the back of a 12-goal Premier League campaign from only 25 starting appearances, Conway could enter the fray with the security of depth – allowing O’Neil and co to forget all about their pursuit of Adams.

After settling in, there’s no reason why the promising Scotland international can’t forge a successful career for himself at Molineux. After all, Vardy and Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins are just two demonstrations of the riches that can be found in digging into the second division.

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