Wolverhampton Wanderers have enjoyed a successful run of late both on and off the pitch. Julen Lopetegui has led the Old Gold to victories over Liverpool and Southampton recently which have moved the club away from the Premier League relegation zone.

The Spaniard has also bolstered his squad significantly in January, signing players such as Matheus Cunha, Pablo Sarabia and Joao Gomes who could give the Molineux side a major boost not only for the rest of this season but ahead of the 2023/24 campaign.

However, Lopetegui did have one big howler in the transfer window in failing to sign right-back Milan van Ewijk, as he could’ve been an upgrade on Nelson Semedo, who has struggled this season.

Indeed, Benfica were reportedly eyeing a move to re-sign the Portuguese defender in the summer according to CNN Portugal (via Record), with his current contract expiring at the end of the season.

The 29-year-old is ranked as Wolves’ 19th-best player this term, proving how ineffective he has been. He has kept just two clean sheets, lost possession 9.1 times per match and been dribbled past 0.5 times per game, and it’s time for Lopetegui to move him on and secure an upgrade in that problematic position.

Could Van Ewijk have been an upgrade on Semedo?

Van Ewijk was linked with Wolves during the January transfer window and was available for a bargain fee of around £4m.

The Dutchman has impressed this season for Eredivisie side Heerenveen, averaging a Sofascore rating of 7.11/10. This ranks 22-year-old as the fourth-best performer in their squad this term, which is no mean feat for the young defender.

Such is his confidence in his own abilities that the player even praised himself while discussing his own strengths back in 2019, saying: “I’m a fierce right back who can attack well, but also defend well and I’m in good shape. I can certainly be found in the front. Last season I also gave a number of assists. I’ll show the rest during the matches.”

This positive attitude and mentality could see him become a star in the future, and there is no doubt that he would have been a significant upgrade on Semedo at Molineux for the rest of the campaign.

In fact, during both players’ respective league campaigns, the Dutchman has registered more goals (three to none), shots (23 to three), interceptions (28 to 15) and crosses (77 to 22), and won more challenges (88.9% to 71.9%) than his Portuguese counterpart.

This clearly proves that not only is Van Ewijk more capable in defence, he also poses a much greater attacking threat than the current Wolves defender, and he could have been extremely useful for Lopetegui going forward.

It is a howler that the Spaniard won’t want to repeat again, with the 56-year-old surely hoping that he can get another bite at the cherry for the highly-rated Van Ewijk during the summer transfer window.