Wolves journalist Liam Keen has given his thoughts on Ruben Neves following recent claims surrounding his future at Molineux.
According to reports in Spain, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel, who isn’t too pleased with the performances of summer signing Saul Niguez, is looking for a new central midfielder, and the 24-year-old Wolves man has apparently caught his eye.
The report has claimed that Wolves would demand €45m (£38m) for his signature, but speaking on the latest edition of the E&S Wolves podcast, Keen discussed the claims and appeared to dismiss the talk pretty much instantly.
He noted that he didn’t see the move happening for a combination of reasons, with issues when it came to both the potential buying and selling clubs:
“I’d be massively surprised if Chelsea splash out on a centre-midfielder. I think they’ve got a lot of cover in there. And particularly their system they play as well, they tend to play two.
“If they do offer £38m, I don’t think that’s gonna be anywhere near what Wolves are going to accept for him, it will take a lot more than that. He’s under contract until 2024 off the top of my head, I believe.
“I think it will take a lot more than £38m for them to even consider it.”
TIF Thoughts on Liam Keen’s comments on Ruben Neves at Wolves…
Will Neves leave in January?
Yes
No
It does seem rather weird that Wolves would consider selling Neves at any point soon, especially given everything that he has done for the club since arriving in 2017.
He was a near ever-present as they achieved back-to-back 7th-place finishes in the Premier League and played a big part in getting them to the top flight in the first place, earning a spot in the EFL Championship Team of the Year in 2017/18. Meanwhile, he’s still proving useful for them in the Premier League, scoring 12 goals and chipping in with seven assists in the league since their last promotion.
So as Keen hints at, it does seem like it’s going to take a lot for Wolves to consider selling him at some point in the near future, especially if he’s able to keep producing for them, but at the very least, Wolves should be comfortable in knowing that they’ll at least be getting a fair price for him if and when the time does come.
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