(Football news) Wolves have agreed a club-record fee of £42.2m to sign Sporting Lisbon midfielder Matheus Nunes. Bruno Lage's side will pay a fee of £38m plus £4.2m in add-ons for the 23-year-old, who is a regular Portugal international. The potential £42.2m deal would eclipse the £35m that Wolves paid Porto two years ago for forward Fabio Silva, who has since been loaned to Belgian side Anderlecht this season.

Nunes scored in Sporting's 3-0 home win over Rio Ave on Saturday and has spent the last three-and-a-half seasons at Sporting having joined from Estoril in January 2019. He made 76 appearances and scored seven goals in all competitions for the Lisbon side. He also has eight caps and one goal for Portugal having made his international debut last year. West Ham had also been in for Nunes this summer but Hammers boss David Moyes revealed last week that "the player didn't want to come".

The midfielder has made 76 appearances in the Portuguese Primeira Liga since moving in 2019, scoring 7 goals. The Merseyside club have been heavily linked with the 23-year-old all summer, but according to reports in Portugal claim that the Reds made contact with the Sporting officials weeks ago and decided “not to formalise any offer”. The report does not give any detail as to why Liverpool didn't follow through with their interest, but it may be related to the high asking price for the player. However, Jurgen Klopp's side may regret their decision not to acquire Nunes' services as they are suffering something of an mini injury crisis in midfield. In the last match, Crystal Palace saw Thiago Alcantara go off with a problem that will see him sidelined for several weeks, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Curtis Jones remain on the sidelines.

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