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This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…
Wolves have enjoyed a tremendous start to the new campaign, achieving victory in their first European contest for nearly 40 years with two wins over Crusaders.
Nuno Santo’s men will be buoyed by that and the fact they’ve added two fine players to their squad in the transfer window.
Jesus Vallejo has arrived on loan from Real Madrid whilst they also brought Patrick Cutrone through the door from AC Milan for £16m.
Yet another player who could well join is the experienced Sami Khedira. Capped 77 times by Germany, the World Cup winner was linked with Wolves during the week.
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That’s per Sky Italia, via Football Italia, who suggest Juventus’ Sporting Director Fabio Paratici has met with the Midlands club.
But what exactly could he bring barring a wealth of experience?
Well, considering Khedira has spent the majority of his career playing further back and deeper in midfield, he could bring a goal threat from central areas.
In 2017/18, he netted nine times but last season only added two. That being said, he has only played ten Serie A matches over the past year.
However, Understat demonstrates that he offers something that other Wolves midfielders struggle to offer.
Last season, he had 12 shots from open play, two more than Leander Dendoncker, as the German managed ten of those from inside the penalty box.
The Belgian, however, only had eight inside the 12-yard area.
An example of where Khedira can influence the game via his shots can be seen below.
Understat shows that he likes to get forward and arrive late in the penalty area, boasting a record of 2.12 shots per game with an expected goals rate of 2.70.
If we compare that to Ruben Neves, he had just two shots inside the box, both of which happened to be penalties.
Meanwhile, Joao Moutinho also failed to get into the penalty area on a regular basis. He also managed just two attempts in that area of the pitch.
Signing Khedira, therefore, could be extremely beneficial for Wolves who could gain a rather unexpected goal threat by landing the 32-year-old.
In matches where they struggle to break teams down, this could be key.
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