Wolverhampton Wanderers are reportedly interested in signing Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bounou in January and the Moroccan’s potential arrival could see the Old Gold finally ditch Matija Sarkic.
According to Spanish news outlet Mucho Deporte, Lopetegui is keen to reunite with the 31-year-old at his new club, although Aston Villa are also said to be keen on bringing him to the Premier League.
The experienced goalkeeper, who is known as Bono, has played a huge part in Morocco reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar, where they will face Portugal on Saturday night.
In his three appearances thus far, the ‘keeper has conceded just once, keeping clean sheets against Croatia and Spain and earning a strong 6.90 average rating from WhoScored.
His performance in the win against Luis Enrique’s side will long be remembered by Moroccan fans, as he saved all three of the Spaniards’ efforts in the penalty shootout, having earned his second clean sheet of the tournament in normal time.
Former Wolves defender Romain Saiss was full of praise for the shot-stopper following the full-time whistle, saying:
“It is amazing for him. He had a heroic game today, not only during the penalties. He just wanted to show why he was named the best LaLiga goalkeeper last season. He is a great keeper, he proved it against Spain. We owe him a lot today.”
Should Bono arrive at Molineux next month, he would almost certainly compete with Jose Sa for a starting spot in Lopetegui’s side, which could see Sarkic finally moved after struggling for regular game time since his arrival.
The 25-year-old would join the Old Gold in 2020 from Aston Villa and has made just two appearances since then, both of which came in the EFL Cup this season, which suggests that he is never going to be a regular for the club.
While he has enjoyed loan spells away from Wolves with Shrewsbury Town and Birmingham City, he can no longer be considered a promising youngster, and would surely be relegated to third-choice should Bono arrive.
Considering he earns £10k-per-week at Molineux, he is hardly worth paying to sit on the bench, so Wolves fans will be hoping they can secure an upgrade in Bono to finally end Sarkic’s disappointing spell at Molineux.
