Championship side Wolves pulled the plug on Donavon Wilson’s proposed move to Port Vale on deadline day, according to the Sun journalist Alan Nixon.
The young striker was set to sign for the League Two side but Wolves cancelled the deal as they were unable to bring a striker in on transfer deadline day. They would have been short on attacking options if they would have let him go out on loan anyway, so decided to keep him, much to the disappointment of Port Vale.
Wilson, 20, came up the Bristol Rovers academy, his hometown club. He signed his first professional contract in May 2014. Despite being on the bench in several games, he never made a senior appearance. He joined Wolves in 2015, initially on loan with a view to a permanent deal of around £50,000. He has since played once for Wolves.
Wolves were said to be keen for Wilson to go out and get some first-team experience. However, a £10m deadline day deal for PSV striker Jürgen Locadia fell through. That would have been a huge statement of intent for the already strong Wolves side. It was Dutch side PSV who cancelled the deal, leaving Wolves desperately scrambling for a new striker. They also sold Nouha Dicko to Championship rivals Hull City earlier in the week for £3.5m and loaned Joe Mason to Burton Albion, so had a gap to fill up top.
Wolves did bring in a player as the window slammed shut. However, this was not a striker, it was former Sunderland and Hull midfielder Alfred N’Diaye from Villarreal. This meant Wolves did not get a striker they wanted, so were forced to block Donavon Wilson’s move to Port Vale.
