RUBEN ROCKS
Guitar-playing Neves ready to pull strings for Wolves
RUBEN NEVES is delighted to ditch his guitar and concentrate on pulling the strings for Wolves again.
The Portugal midfielder, 23, has been learning to play acoustic guitar in a bid to cure the lockdown blues.
But Neves, a £15million signing from Porto in 2017, says he is definitely not up to a standard to pose any threat to his musical hero, Chris Martin of Coldplay.
Neves says with a laugh: “I know there are a lot of rock stars who would love to be footballers but, if it was the other way around, I would like to be the lead singer with Coldplay.
“They are my favourite band and it’s their music that I always have on before we go out to play.
“Their music is always the last thing I hear before I take off my headphones to go down the tunnel.”
With Wolves these days, it’s more a case of hot play, with Nuno Espirito Santo’s men sixth in the Premier League and through to the knockout stages of the Europa League. Neves has been at the centre of things during the club’s incredible rise over the past three seasons. Wolves stormed to the Championship title in 2018 then clinched a Europa League spot with a seventh-placed finish in their first season in the top flight.
Neves cannot see any reason why they will not do even better this time around – and says the resumption cannot come quickly enough. He added: “How far can we go? It’s hard to say. “We try not to think too much about the future but we have a very good mentality among the lads and just try to be better and better.
“It’s a philosophy that seems to be working. We know we are in a good position but we also know there are nine games to go.
“We won’t need that much motivation because it’s easier to motivate a side that is doing well.We will just try our best to keep our position in the table and try to improve and go higher.” Wolves are no strangers to behind-closeddoors matches, having played at Olympiakos in February after the Greek government ruled there would be no spectators for the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie, which finished 1-1.
Neves added: “It was really strange. It’s hard to explain because you are used to playing in loud places. We found it was important to get used to it in the warm-up. We will be ready.”