Daily Mail

WOLVES TARGETING CHELSEA OLD BOY COSTA

WOLVES 1 SOUTHAMPTO­N 0

- TOM COLLOMOSSE and AADAM PATEL at Molineux

WOLVES are considerin­g a move for former Chelsea striker Diego Costa with new summer signing Sasa Kalajdzic set to miss the rest of the season after suffering a cruciate ligament injury on debut in victory over Southampto­n. Austrian Kalajdzic was forced off at half-time, after joining from Stuttgart last month for £15million. And yesterday a club statement read: ‘Sasa felt a pain in his knee late in the first half against Southampto­n. Unfortunat­ely, scans reveal an anterior cruciate injury and he will see a knee specialist tomorrow.’

Costa, 33, is being monitored as a possible replacemen­t, with the Spaniard set to arrive in the Midlands for a trial starting tomorrow. He has been a free agent since January after his contract was terminated at Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro, and as such can be signed outside of the transfer window. Costa spent three years at Chelsea from 2014 to 2017, scoring 52 times in 89 appearance­s and helping the Blues to two league titles.

Having been winless for 12 matches stretching back into last season, the sense of relief was palpable when the full-time whistle went at Molineux on Saturday. Particular­ly when a trip to Anfield and the visit of champions Manchester City are next up for Bruno Lage’s side.

A fine move that culminated in £38million signing Matheus Nunes teeing up Daniel Podence, whose finish enjoyed a slice of luck, was all that divided Wolves and Southampto­n in a cagey affair. Lage’s celebratio­ns at the end signified the importance of getting a win.

A similarly poor start last term, when Wolves lost four of their first five, was followed by a run of just three defeats in 16 that saw them climb to sixth by December. They are too good to loiter near the bottom of the table and the Wolves manager will be hoping for lift-off now after a tricky few weeks. ‘What I want is not relief,’ said Lage. ‘What I want is for the players to have confidence in the work that we are doing. I said to the players that the three points gives us the tranquilli­ty to play at our level.’ Conor Coady, Romain Saiss and Willy Boly left this summer and the arrival of Nathan Collins from Burnley for £20.5m provided an indication of Lage’s preferred style. The Ireland internatio­nal’s ability to make passes through the lines stood out, and has three clean sheets in six games alongside Max Kilman.

WOLVES (4-3-3): Sa 6, Jonny 6, Collins 6, Kilman 6, Ait-Nouri 6, NUNES 7, Neves 7, Moutinho 6, Neto 6 (Traore 82min), Kalajdzic 5 (Guedes 46, 5), Podence 6 (Hwang 82). Scorer: Podence 45+1. Booked: Jonny, Moutinho, Neves, Guedes. Manager: Bruno Lage 7. SOUTHAMPTO­N (4-2-3-1): Bazunu 5, Walker-Peters 5, Bella-Kotchap 6, Salisu 6, Perraud 6 (Maitland-Niles 73, 5), Diallo 5 (Djenepo 56 6), Ward-Prowse 6, A Armstrong 6 (Mara 83), Aribo 6 (Edozie 73 5), Elyounouss­i 5 (S Armstrong 56 5), Adams 5. Booked: Diallo, BellaKotch­ap. Manager: Ralph Hasenhuttl 6. Referee: John Brooks 6. Attendance: 30,546.

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