Wolves reignite interest in experienced West Ham star as Lopetegui aims to stave off relegation threat

Wolves have reportedly reignited their interest in veteran West Ham centre-half Craig Dawson, as Julen Lopetegui looks to strengthen his back line this winter. 

Dawson has previously expressed his desire to remain in the Premier League and to move back to the Midlands, where he previously played with West Bromwich Albion.

The English centre-back will turn 33 this year, so he is certainly not a long-term option, but he could provide some much-needed stability in defence for at least the remainder of the season.

Wolves have endured a difficult start to the Premier League campaign, after winning just three of their opening 18 matches. As a result they now sit in 19th place in the table.

They have also missed their former captain Conor Coady at the back, who joined Everton on a loan-to-buy agreement last summer.

Dawson could be exactly the type of player Wolves need: an experienced, no-nonsense defender who is strong in the air and a leader in the dressing room. So he could help them avoid the drop zone come the end of the season.

As reported by Sky Sports News, Wolves are heavily interested in bringing the defender to Molineux this month, after previously coming close to signing him in the summer.

Dawson could be stop-gap solution to Wolves’ defensive issues

The only question is whether West Ham would be willing to let Dawson leave.

At the start of the current campaign, it seemed as if he had fallen behind the likes of Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna in the pecking order.

However, the Englishman has since started the Hammers’ last six games, suggesting he is becoming an important player for David Moyes once again.

The other clear issue is that both West Ham and Wolves are close to the bottom of the table, so the Irons might be reluctant to sell one of their most senior defenders to a rival team.

Transfermarkt value the centre-back at just £2.5m, but due to the aforementioned issues, they may have to pay over the odds to convince Moyes to sell his veteran defender.

As mentioned, while Dawson wouldn’t be a long-term addition for Lopetegui, he could definitely play a key role in the rest of their season, as they look to avoid relegation.

Wolves have so far conceded an average of 1.5 goals per game, which when comparing that to last season when they conceded 1.1 goals per match, is clearly significantly worse and their results represent that.

Their two main centre-backs at the moment – Nathan Collins and Max Kilman – have so far failed to put in consistently solid defensive performances and this is a problem that their Spanish manager will have to rectify should they want to avoid the drop.

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