Over the past few seasons, Wolverhampton Wanderers have made some big profit from selling on key players. This money has mainly come from fellow Premier League clubs, although sides outside of England have bought a few too.
The likes of Nathan Collins and Morgan Gibbs-White, who left the club in the summer of 2023 and 2022 respectively made Wolves almost £50m. Collins joined Brentford for £23m, and Gibbs-White signed for Nottingham Forest for an initial £25m, with the deal potentially rising to £42.5m.
Diogo Jota signed for Liverpool in 2020 for £41m, in a deal which saw Ki-Jana Hoever go the other way and make the switch to Molineux. At the time, that was a club record sale for Wolves, but it was broken twice last summer.
Firstly, Ruben Neves’ transfer from Wolves to Saudi side Al-Hilal broke the sale record set by Jota’s move to Liverpool. Former captain Neves left Molineux for Saudi for a fee of £47m.
However, Neves’ record was smashed just weeks later, when his fellow Portuguese midfielder Matheus Nunes left Wolves to join Premier League champions Manchester City, for a fee of £53m. That was the third time in four years Wolves’ record sale was set, and the second time in just over two months.
However, there could well be another sale this summer, which sees that record broken once more, with one of Wolves’ star performers this season in line for a move.
Pedro Neto’s 2024 stats
The player in question here is another Portugal international, winger Pedro Neto. The 24-year-old has had a stellar campaign during the 2023/24 season and has potentially lined himself up for a big switch in the next few months.
This term in the Premier League, Neto scored two goals and registered nine assists in just 20 games. Not only that, he got on the scoresheet once and registered two assists in four FA Cup games.
What makes this even more impressive is that he only played 1,519 minutes in the Premier League, which equates to 16 full 90-minute games. The reason Neto has played such few minutes is due to more injury issues hampering his campaign. The Portugal international missed a total of 20 games in all competitions, seven less than he missed in 2022/23.
Despite these injury issues, his quality has shone through this season. In fact, following a wonderful assist against Spurs, Neto received a compliment from former Wolves and current Portugal teammate Jota, who called him a “beast” on social media after his silky performance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Neto’s transfer value in 2024
Indeed, with the £50k-per-week attacker's excellent performances likely warranting a big move in the 2024 summer window, it does beg the question of exactly how much money Wolves will charge for the 24-year-old.
According to a report by The Telegraph, the Midlands side will ask for another club record fee in order to sell Neto. Percy explains that “Wolves are ready to demand a club record £60 million” for the Portuguese, before explaining that Manchester City and Newcastle are the two clubs interested in signing him at this time.
Matheus Nunes
2023/24
Manchester City
£53m
Ruben Neves
2023/24
Al-Hilal
£47m
Diogo Jota
2020/21
Liverpool
£41m
Morgan Gibbs-White
2022/23
Nottingham Forest
£25m
Nathan Collins
2023/24
Brentford
£23m
Stats from Transfermarkt
Manager Gary O’Neil implied in a recent interview that Wolves will once again have to move players on in order to reinvest money into the squad. O’Neil discussed how Wolves “won't be blessed with resources as in money to spend”, before explaining that he hopes those out on loan can “come back and help us or we will be able to sell some”.
Whatever the case, it will certainly be an interesting summer at Molineux, with some big names, including Neto, potentially on the way out of the door. How the Old Gold will spend that remains to be seen; they are not currently linked with many players. With that being said, they will be hoping to use it as a springboard and build on an impressive first season with O’Neil at the helm.
Wolves looking to table bid for "unstoppable" Neto replacement
Gary O’Neil’s side could complete a brilliant piece of business here.
ByAngus Sinclair May 22, 2024