Last summer, Wolves were able to snap up Matthew Whittingham, one of the stars of Manchester City's under-18s' title triumph. Whittingham had scored seven times and set-up 11 more in 2022/23, so may have been regarded as a significant academy coup at Molineux.
The deal for the Englishman, who can play in a variety of midfield roles and even popped up at left-back, is part of a broader recruitment plan for Gary O'Neil's side. Harry Hooman, head of UK recruitment at their academy, said at the time:
"We’re always on top of the ‘bigger’ club’s players and monitoring the ones who are possibly looking to come out for a better pathway at some point."
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Wolves are now continuing that policy in their free-transfer pursuit of Arsenal's Amario Cozier-Dubbery, who's out of contract at the end of the season. It recently emerged that the Midlands outfit are interested in the 18-year-old as the Gunners try to reach an agreement over an extension, with Newcastle, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax and Anderlecht all watching closely too.
Wolves ready to strike for Cozier-Duberry "bargain"
Speaking to GiveMeSport, CBS Sports journalist Ben Jacobs said Wolves "in particular" are ready to pounce on any stumbling blocks in talks at the Emirates. He believes that Cozier-Duberry could be a bargain, and says Arsenal are aware that his suitors inside and outside the Premier League are circling.
He said: “Wolves in particular are very much across this and hoping that they might be able to, should things not go Arsenal's way, get a transfer over the line in June. It's also fair to say that Newcastle and Borussia Dortmund, amongst others, are also facing the same situation. That's normal because when a player is available on a free transfer in June, there's always that ability to get a bargain deal and try to pre-agree something on a free transfer. Arsenal know this.”
Cozier-Duberry could be the missing piece at Wolves
Cozier-Duberry is enjoying an excellent season for Arsenal's under-21s, scoring or assisting eight goals in nine Premier League 2 appearances and netting a couple more in his four UEFA Youth League outings. He's also shone at the international level by hitting the target twice for England's under-19s in friendlies against Switzerland and Romania.
Mikel Arteta has taken notice of his form and named him on the bench for the EFL Cup trip to Brentford in late September as well as the Champions League match against Sevilla in early November, but he's yet to make a full debut for the title-chasers.
1
Owen Hesketh
AM
10
5
2
Justin Hubner
CB
10
4
3
Owen Farmer
CF
11
3
4
Nathan Fraser
CF
6
3
5
Tawanda Chirewa
AM
4
2
As you can see in the table above, there aren't any specialist wide players putting up especially eye-catching numbers in Wolves' under-21 current crop, so Cozier-Duberry may be regarded as a missing piece in O'Neil's next generation.
