Wolverhampton Wanderers are interested in a deal to bring Gonçalo Ramos to Molineux in the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Portuguese publication Jornal de Noticias (via Sport Witness), who claim that, following the centre-forward’s impressive campaign with Portugal at the Qatar World Cup this winter, a number of clubs are now interested in a move for the 21-year-old in January – one of whom is said to be Julen Lopetegui’s outfit.

However, the report goes on to state that the likes of Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Newcastle United and Paris Saint-Germain are also tracking the Benfica striker ahead of launching a potential move of their own this winter, although the Liga Portugal side are said to be unwilling to accept an offer less than the forward’s whopping €120m (£103m) release clause.

Jiménez 2.0

Considering just how impressive Ramos has been for club and country so far this season, coupled with it being reported recently that Wolves’ long-serving number nine Raúl Jiménez could be set to leave Molineux in January, it is not difficult to understand why Lopetegui would be targeting the 21-year-old as the Mexico international’s replacement up top.

There are a number of similarities between the two attackers, with Jiménez also having joined the Old Gold from Ramos’ current club Benfica, as well as the two forwards being extremely deadly finishers in the final third, capable of dropping deep to link build-up play and being of a similar height and physical build.

Indeed, over Ramos’ 11 Liga Portugal fixtures in the current campaign, the £32m-rated talent has been in sensational form, having already bagged nine goals, registered one assist and created one big chance, in addition to taking an average of 3.3 shots – 1.5 of which have been on target – making 0.6 key passes and completing 0.4 dribbles per game.

These returns have seen the player who Raj Chohan dubbed “unreal” average a rather remarkable Sofascore match rating of 7.21, not only ranking him as Rúben Amorim’s eighth-best performer in the league but also as the joint 22nd-best player in the top flight of Portuguese football as a whole.

The £36k-per-week wonderkid also shone over his four outings at the Qatar World Cup, scoring three goals – all of which came via a sensational hat-trick in a 6-1 win over Switzerland – providing one assist and creating one big chance, as well as taking an average of 1.8 shots – 1.3 of which hit the target – and making 0.5 key passes per match.

These metrics saw the five-cap international average an astonishing Sofascore match rating of 7.22, ranking him as Portugal’s fourth-best performer in the biggest competition world football has to offer – not bad for a 21-year-old.

As such, while £103m is undoubtedly a huge amount of money to spend for a club of Wolves’ current standing, it would very much appear as if Ramos is a player worth this outlay, as the Portuguese hitman could well prove to become the Old Gold’s next Jiménez-esque talisman up top for many a year to come.