Wolves ready bargain summer swoop to beat Liverpool to Sevilla ace

Neil Foster 23 Mar 2021 12:03 PM

Wolves will reportedly move for Lucas Ocampos this summer and could land the Sevilla winger for less than his hefty release clause figure.

Ocampos, 26, is currently enjoying his second season with the La Liga club. He moved to Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan from Marseille in the summer of 2019, with the Spaniards paying L’OM £13m.

He penned a five-year deal with Los Nervionenses which included a £62m release clause. The Argentina international has blossomed at Sevilla, with 17 goals from 44 outings in all competitions last term.

He has also been turning heads in 2020-2021, with seven goals and four assists from 35 appearances. Liverpool are one of the clubs said to be keen on the South American.

Reports in February linked with Reds with a summer swoop. It was thought they might try to include Takumi Minamino in the deal to bring Ocampos to Anfield.

The Japan international is currently on loan with Southampton after struggling to make the breakthrough with the Merseysiders. But Wolves have now entered the race for Ocampos, according to Football Insider.

The West Midlanders are said to have had the former Monaco man on their radar for some time. They scouted him while he was at Marseille and have continued to keep tabs during his Sevilla spell.

Nuno Espirito Santo got a close look at the wide man in last August’s Europa League quarter-final. He scored the only goal of the game as Sevilla knocked Wolves out of the competition.

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Cut-price deal for Ocampos

Ocampos will be 27 in July and should have many years ahead of him at the top of the game. But £62m is a huge fee for a player in the current pandemic and Sevilla may have to be realistic about his price tag.

Wolves paid a club record £36m for Fabio Silva and £34m for Raul Jimenez. Ocampos’s current price tag seems beyond them but there is every chance of a deal being done.

Nevertheless, Nuno may have to offload a player to finance the deal and Adama Traore could be the man to go. They paid Middlesbrough £18m for the 25-year-old and will be in line to make a healthy profit on that figure.

There will doubtless be other clubs interested in Ocampos and it is not known if Liverpool are still keen. But he would be a welcome addition to the ranks of any club, with an ability to play on either flank.

Primarily a creative left winger, he has scored 77 goals from 381 appearances in his career to date. He has also been capped seven times by Argentina and spent time on loan at AC Milan.