Wolves aim to hijack Atletico Madrid move for exciting Portuguese starlet

Wolves are looking to add some firepower to their squad in the off season and have turned their attention to beating Atletico Madrid to the capture of an exciting Portuguese youngster.

Wolves have made signing players from Portugal something of a habit since promotion to the Premier League in 2018, due to the close ties between owner Jeff Shi and super-agent Jorge Mendes. Players like Joao Moutinho, Diogo Jota, Ruben Neves and Pedro Neto have all thrived in the Premier League while at Molineux.

Gary O’Neil impressed in his first season in charge, inspiring the club to challenge for a top half finish before they tailed off somewhat to finish 14th.

A report in the Portuguese media has stated that Wolves have launched a bid to sign Braga winger Rodrigo Gomes. The €15million (£13m) offer matches that which came from Atletico; the bid has been viewed as something of a last-ditch attempt to sign him, because he is reportedly well on his way to securing a move to the Wanda Metropolitano.

Braga, though, are hoping to fuel a bidding war to up the price, but it remains to be seen whether the Premier League side can secure the deal.

Signing a new attacker may add to unwanted speculation that Wolves may have to sell key players this summer in order to avoid breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability rules. Matheus Cunha was recently linked with a move to Manchester United, while Neto has been heavily linked with both Newcastle and Arsenal in the past.

Last season, though, O’Neil insisted there was no need to sell any major assets.

“There were some positive bits around what we might not have to do as a club,” said O’Neil. “We are in a much better position than we were last summer, when we needed to sell players.

Wolves don’t need to sell best players – O’Neil

“We don’t need to sell anybody. If we didn’t want to see players, we could sell nobody this summer. But as I’ve said already, the money coming in (from owners Fosun) won’t be as big as it used to be, when we were able to sign players for £30m or £40m and not sell anybody.

“That won’t be happening. But we have some assets out on loan that will either come back and make the group stronger or come back and be sold to give us some opportunity to do some business.

“But anybody that we’re desperate not to lose can definitely stay here. We’ve had discussions — at least the first of them — and come out of it with a good understanding of what we’re trying to do.”