(Football news) After the best goalscoring season of his career, Portuguese winger Goncalo Guedes has reportedly earned a move to Wolverhampton as he is said to be finalising a transfer worth up to £35 million. After arriving at Valencia in 2017 from Paris Saint-Germain, the 25-year-old forward has established himself as a regular in Portugal's international side, collecting 32 caps and scoring the only goal in their 1-0 Nations League final win against the Netherlands in 2019 where he helped his country win the Nations League title.
Having never previously scored more than five league goals in a season, last season Guedes racked up 11, as well as six assists for Valencia and helped his side through to the final of the Copa del Rey. Wolves have no shortage of talent as they arguably have the strongest Portuguese contingent in the Premier League including manager Bruno Lage and four players who started their opening fixture against Leeds United, Pedro Neto, Daniel Podence, Ruben Neves and Jose Sa, with Joao Moutinho and Nelson Semedo among the others in their squad.
According to the reports Guedes is set to sign for Wolves after agreeing personal terms with the club. His arrival at the same starting position may be opening for the club as Morgan Gibbs-White's name continues to be included in heavy transfer speculation, with Nottingham Forest keen to sign him for a similar price Wolves will fork out on this reported deal. Replacing an unproven talent like Gibbs-White with an established international performer like Guedes would likely be seen as a win by the club. It has also been reported that they should be able to collect £12m from Everton in exchange for club captain Conor Coady as well.
Neto excelled on the opening day even though Wolves were defeated 2-1 by Leeds United. Jesse Marsch’s team earned three points thanks to goals from Rodrigo Moreno and USMNT international Brenden Aaronson. Despite the attacking impetus shown from Neto, Morgan Gibbs-White and co, there was a lack of an out-and-out striker as Raul Jimenez’s injury only leaves Hwang Hee-chan as the available striker. This doesn’t necessarily play a part in the arrival of the Portuguese international as he can play up front and as a winger. The 25-year-old is one of the many very capable players who had to leave Paris Saint-Germain to play regular football.
Current Valencia manager Gennaro Gattuso is pretty content with the loss of the Portuguese winger for a while now. Problems with the hierarchy have seen several perfectly competent managers struggle in the La Liga and it looks like Gattuso is facing the same issue as the manager and it seems things aren't getting any easier for him at the Mestalla. Talk remains of who they could bring to the club. There were rumours of a few Tottenham Hotspur players being close to moving to Spain. Bryan Gil did make the move on loan whilst other targeted players like Dele Alli and Tanguy Ndombele moved elsewhere. Wolves weren’t the most clinical side in the attacking third last term and there are few signs of that improving just yet, the arrival of Goncalo Guedes for a sizable fee is certainly a step in the right direction.
