Manchester City outcast Eliaquim Mangala is on newly promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers’ radar. Mangala is currently on a loan spell at Everton where he suffered a knee injury which ended his season. The Manchester City loanee is certainly not in Pep Guardiola’s plan and will have to look for other clubs next summer.
Wolves are back in the Premier League after six seasons as they have dominated the Championship and went on to win it on a canter. Their boss Nuno Espirito Santo has been a revelation this season as he has guided this Wolves team to Premier League promotion. The former Porto man broke the transfer record by bringing in Ruben Neves at the club and the Portuguese midfielder has been instrumental in the West Midlands club’s success.
Mangala served a loan spell at Valencia in the last term as well, as City went on to sign new defenders, which clearly indicated that Mangala was never in Guardiola’s plan.
In a Guardiola system, a defender needs to be good with his distribution skills and should be comfortable on the ball as he wants his team to play from the back. However, Mangala isn’t endowed with such qualities as he is known as a traditional ‘no-nonsense defender’.
Wolves have clearly shown their ambition in the Championship as they are looking to take on the Premier League challenge next season. They are being linked with a host of players and it is expected that the club will make some major signings to ensure they stay in the Premier League for years to come.
Like the Wolves’ manager, Mangala also made his name when he used to play for Porto. The Citizens signed him for big money as they paid the Portuguese outfit £31.8m to acquire his services. But his big-money move didn’t really work as he struggled for starts at Manchester City in their star-studded lineup. The Frenchman has been around for quite a while but he still makes some dreadful defensive errors. Sometimes it feels that his concentration lets him down as he misses the runs of attackers and midfielders. However, he will still be a good addition to the Wolves side as he has got good experience at the top level and will bring that much-needed depth in Nuno Espirito Santo’s squad.
