An update has emerged on Sporting midfielder Matheus Nunes, regarding Wolves' interest in his services.
What's the talk?
According to Portuguese outlet A Bola, Wolves have joined the race to land Sporting central midfielder Matheus Nunes this summer, with Bruno Lage keen on a deal for the youngster.
The report claims that he is available for a fee in the region of £15m (€18m) after he came close to signing for Premier League side Everton. The Toffees pulled out of a deal after they failed to land Nuno Santo, who ultimately ended up at Tottenham.
Neves 2.0
Wolves could land Ruben Neves 2.0 with a swoop for Nunes before the end of the transfer window. The obvious comparison is there as they are both central midfielders who've developed in Portugal and their statistics from last season are fairly similar, albeit at two different standards of football.
Per 90 minutes in the 2020/21 campaign, Nunes was ahead of Neves in terms of pass accuracy, aerial battles won, ground duels won and ground duel success rate. The Wolves man, however, was ahead in tackles made, ball recoveries, clearances and interceptions. This suggests that they performed to a similar standard, with each player excelling in different areas but all of the statistics were reasonably close, with neither player miles ahead of the other in any specific category.
Therefore, Nunes could be the 'next Neves' for Wolves, whilst potentially playing alongside him next season. Nunes could come in and learn from the likes of Neves and Joao Moutinho before replacing them in the future, whether that be through the latter retiring or the former moving on to another club. If Neves does leave in the near future, Wolves could already have their replacement in the building.
A former teammate of Nunes', Goncalo Santos, spoke about the midfielder earlier this summer and hailed the pace he generates when running with the ball at his feet. He claims that “nobody can catch” him when he dribbles with the ball.
“In one game, he went on a run which was about 60 metres, it was amazing! People went crazy and everybody was talking about it.
“It's unbelievable when he has the ball at his feet. Nobody can catch him; it’s impossible because he's too fast.
“Matheus is a box-to-box player. He's not so strong like midfielders in the Premier League but he's very fast. He's very good with the ball because he is a Brazilian boy.”
Wolves must seal a deal for the 22-year-old gem this summer. He could be a great addition in both the short term and the long term and is seemingly available for a good price at £15m, which means that Lage would not need to break the bank to bring him in.
AND in other news, Imagine him & Neto: Wolves initiate talks for £35k-p/w "champion", he'd be a huge coup...