Wolves and Southampton 'could do lot worse' than sign 'surprise' World Cup star | OneFootball

Southampton and Wolverhampton Wanderers may think they could do a lot worse than take a look at World Cup goal king Enner Valencia, according to transfer insider Dean Jones.

Valencia’s exploits at the World Cup in Qatar may have alerted Premier League clubs looking for a goal-scorer in the January transfer window.

Haven’t we seen Valencia in the Premier League before?

A move to the Premier League would not be the first time we’ve seen the Ecuadorian striker in English football’s top flight.

West Ham swooped to sign the forward in 2014 after his impressive performances at the World Cup in Brazil, in a £12 million deal from Mexican club Pachuca.

He scored on his full debut for the club, in a 2-2 draw with Hull City, but failed to impress in his three seasons with the Hammers, where he scored just 10 goals in 68 appearances for the club.

Valencia then spent a season on loan at Everton in 2016-17, but only managed three goals for the Toffees across the campaign and they failed to take up the option of a permanent move.

Instead, the Ecuador international moved back to Mexico and signed for Tigres, and has since returned to Europe with Fenerbahce, where he’s currently in this third season with the Turkish club.

What does Dean Jones say about a Valencia move?

Transfer insider Dean Jones thinks that Valencia’s performances at the World Cup could prompt a surprise move from Premier League teams for the striker.

Jones told GIVEMESPORT: “There’s always one big surprise and after three goals in three games, there may well be clubs, I don’t know like Southampton and Wolves, that are thinking they could do a lot worse right now and take a punt on someone that not only is full of confidence, but also does have Premier League experience and won’t be fazed by the challenge of coming in.

“I definitely think he’s one of the more intriguing storylines that’s coming out of this World Cup.”

Would Valencia solve Southampton and Wolves’ goal-scoring issues?

With three goals in three games for Ecuador, Valencia currently leads the Golden Boot race in Qatar alongside Kylian Mbappe, Marcus Rashford and Cody Gakpo – however, he’ll be unable to add to that total after the South American side’s elimination.

The 33-year-old also leads the way at the top of the Super Lig goal-scoring charts in Turkey, where his 13 goals see him as the league’s current top-scorer.

These are the kind of stats that will alert both Southampton and Wolves, who occupy two of the three places in the Premier League’s bottom three, and both have suffered from lack of goals.

Wolves struggles are the more alarming, having netted just nine times in the league so far and drawn a blank in eight Premier League matches. Julen Lopetegui’s number one priority will be to find a source of goals, with striker Raul Jimenez struggling with consistent injury issues and having lost Sasa Kalajdzic for the season.

Southampton meanwhile, have scored 13 times this season but would ideally need more firepower in their squad to aid Che Adams. The Scottish striker has scored six times this season, but Nathan Jones would like to get more goals from his attack as he looks to save Saints from the drop.