Wolves have signed teenager Luke Matheson from Rochdale, although the defender will remain on loan at the League One club for the remainder of the season.
The 17-year-old, who came through the academy at Dale, underwent a medical at Wolves’ training ground on Friday ahead of a deal that is thought to be worth around £1million.
Matheson became the youngest player in Rochdale’s history when he made his debut at the age of 15 years and 336 days and hit the headlines by scoring the equaliser in Dale’s Carabao Cup defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford in September.
The full-back has been at Rochdale since the age of eight and signed his first professional contract in October, just weeks after turning 17.
Wolves sporting director Kevin Thelwell said: “Our recruitment team have watched Luke since he made his debut at 15.
“He’s still only 17 and has made a lot of appearances for Rochdale in League One, which is a very good standard, and had strong games in the cups, particularly this season against Manchester United and Newcastle United.
“The system we play, it’s set up for him. He plays at right-back for Rochdale at the moment, but he’s a right wing-back in our eyes because of his energy and ability to continually sprint and recover.
“At 17, for a boy to have so much experience, be English and have such a strong mentality is fantastic and we think he’s everything we’re about.
“He’s playing so often at Rochdale so we’re sending him back there on loan to continue to get experience and that should hopefully give him more game time. Then he’ll come back to us for the start of pre-season in the summer.
“It’s great for all of us to get him in the building, we’re really excited and we think he’s going to be a top talent.”
Defender Sylvain Deslandes has left Molineux after making just eight appearances for the club in almost five years, the 22-year-old making a move to Romanian side FC Arges Pitesti, subject to international clearance.
