Shropshire Star

Dave Edwards: Jhon Arias will be a welcome addition to the Wolves squad

The signing of Jhon Arias will be a really welcome addition to the squad, particularly from an attacking point of view.

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We've seen Fer Lopez come into the team as well, but he's very much a developmental player, whereas Jhon Arias at 27-years-old really fits the bill of the players Wolves have had a lot of success with in recent years. The South American market has been really good to them. 

Losing Rayan Ait-Nouri and Matheus Cunha, two of our biggest creative outlets on our left-hand side, we needed someone to be able to come in and replace them with the potential to hit the dizzy heights they did.

I really feel that Arias ticks those boxes. We're likely to see him play off one of the sides, whether it's on the right or the left, one of those number 10 positions. I think his best attribute is the way he can handle the ball under pressure.

Jhon Arias (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)
Jhon Arias (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

That's something that may have been overlooked at times with Cunha, but when Wolves are under pressure in games, as you're going to be in the Premier League, to be able to put a difficult pass into a player and for them to retain possession for you, even though they're getting pressed by the other team, is a really tough skill to do. 

Cunha was brilliant at that, but Arias in a different way, can receive it in those tight areas, using his really strong frame.

He's only small, but he's very, very strong to hold off players, and he can wriggle and turn. I think that'll be huge for Wolves. 

The Premier League is tough. There's lots of athletic footballers in there, there's lots of good football teams, and Wolves are going to be under pressure in games. To be able to have an outlet like Arias will be key. 

He's very exciting going forward, can break quickly and travels with the ball extremely well.