EXCLUSIVE: Wolves set to see £17m bid for top target accepted by Italian side as Gary O’Neil begins to spend £54m Pedro Neto fee

Wolves have just over two weeks before transfer deadline day to ensure the Pedro Neto money is spent on bolstering Gary O’Neil’s squad.

It has been a modest summer of recruitment at Molineux so far, with a sum of roughly £25m spent to bring Rodrigo Gomes, Pedro Lima and Tommy Doyle to Wolves.

Now – however – after Pedro Neto left for Chelsea in a £54m deal, Wolves have made a bid to bring another player to the Midlands…

A story from Il Messaggero in Italy now states that Wolves have made a €20m (£17m) bid to sign Christos Mandas.

The Italian news outlet believe Lazio are highly likely to accept the offer as the money is too good to refuse – it was only in September 2023 that the Greece international was signed from OFI for just €1m (£854,575).

Il Messaggero headline the story by writing that Mandas is close to being sold to England, which suggests Lazio are indeed on the verge of accepting this bid.

Mandas was primarily used as backup to Ivan Provedel in Rome last season, as he made just nine appearances in Serie A.

However, the 22-year-old impressed, keeping five clean sheets in those nine appearances, showing enough potential to convince Wolves to part with £17m.

Jose Sa could leave Molineux

It feels strange to see Wolves bid such a large amount for another goalkeeper with Jose Sa already at Molineux, which suggests – to us at least – that the Portugal international could leave.

A story from TEAMtalk claimed that the 31-year-old would like to leave Wolves this summer and play at a higher level, so there may have been movement on this front after a substantial bid was made for Mandas.

Furthermore, Arsenal have been trying to sign Dan Bentley from Wolves, so O’Neil may also be plotting to sign the Greek glovesman as an initial No.2 behind Sa.