KEEPING NEVES IS CRUCIAL FOR MOLINEUX MEN
PROMOTED Wolves’ biggest problem amid all the big spending that will go on to establish them in the Premier League will be to keep Ruben Neves.
When they bought Neves last summer for a club and Championship record £15m from Porto, it looked astonishing, even foolhardy.
But now they would get at least double for him, possibly even treble if Neves’ future became an auction.
Wolves won’t want to sell him, that’s for sure.
With Chinese owners Fosun International Limited worth billions, there is no need for Neves to worry about a pay rise to match his status as the best player in the Championship.
“I came to England to play in the Premier League,” said Neves. “We’ve had our goal since the start of the season.
“I came to be part of a very good project and improve myself and my game. There’s nothing better than this league to do that.”
But Neves, 21 and probably going to the World Cup with Portugal, is non-committal about staying with Wolves.
“My goal is the same. Improve myself to do a good job and help the team,” is his carefully-chosen, cautious comment. “I just focus on the game for Sunday.
“After we have time to think about that. I like to play here, I like the fans.”
Wolves have super-agent Jorge Mendes, the man who brought Neves from Portugal and has added the star quality to an outstanding team, to work on their behalf.
If anyone can, then Mendes is the man to persuade Neves to give it a season at least with Wolves before moving on to the brighter lights.
Neves’ passing ability is outstanding and the 35yarder he chipped up and volleyed in against Derby in midweek was the superb pick of his five goals in his debut English season.
Fosun put £30m, small change to them, to one side to get Wolves into the Premier League as soon as possible when they bought the club for £45m in July 2016.
With Fosun making profits of £1.2bn last year and a company worth over £56bn, they have the money to pay for ambition.
Coach Nuno Espirito Santo, below, will have a huge budget to spend but remains an enigma.
Quiet, reticent, not anxious to chase headlines off the pitch, he is a voluble dervish on the touchline and was sent to the stands twice in the space of two months.
He has made an attempt to calm down – not always successfully, ask Neil Warnock – and his players swear by him and his attention to detail. Now Nuno has to plan for an exciting future.
“The talent and beautiful goals is what everyone will talk about. But it goes beyond that,” says Nuno. “All the Wolves players are developing. They’re getting better, the players that were here and the ones that arrived.
“Neves still has a lot to improve. The window of growing for a player never finishes. We give to them and they receive.”