Wolves 'pulled the plug' on £17m deal at Molineux

Wolverhampton Wanderers “pulled the plug” on a potential deal for River Plate midfielder Enzo Fernández, according to talkSPORT reporter Alex Crook.

The club had sent chief scout Matthew Hobbs to Argentina to try and secure the deal, but ended up pulling out of the deal after his arrival in South America.

It had been reported in June that Bruno Lage’s side had registered their interest in the 21-year-old midfielder, with the club eager to find replacements ahead of the potential departures of Rúben Neves and João Moutinho this summer.

But it was always known that Benfica were also interested in the River Plate man, and Fabrizio Romano later tweeted that the Portuguese and Argentine club had a deal in place for the transfer of the midfielder for approximately £15.4m.

Fernández has made 26 appearances for River Plate so far this season, scoring ten goals and providing seven assists, according to Transfermarkt.

And Crook believes that the deal was cancelled because Wolves had second thoughts about the deal when Hobbs arrived in Argentina.

He told GIVEMESPORT: “I did a story last week about this sort of wasted chase for Enzo Fernández.

“They [Wolves] sent their chief scout Matthew Hobbs on a 14,000 mile round trip to try and get him to sign, having got an agreement.

“They then pulled the plug and decided not to trigger his £17m release clause, which suggests to me that coffers are running dry.”

It’s been a disappointing few weeks for Wolves fans, with the aforementioned deal with River Plate for Fernández falling through, alongside the fact they look like missing out on the signing of Sporting Lisbon midfielder João Palhinha at the expense of fellow Premier League side Fulham.

The club are still yet to make a first-team