It’s safe to say that Ruben Neves is greatly missed by Wolves fans.
The midfielder spent six brilliant years at Molineux after joining the club in the Championship.
Ruben Neves had captained FC Porto in the Champions League as a teenager, so his move to the West Midlands certainly raised eyebrows.
It was immediately obvious that Wolves had signed a player of real quality, and Neves played a starring role in the club’s title-winning season in 2017/18.
Neves then continue to thrive in the Premier League, making a name for himself by showcasing passing clinics and scoring wonder goals
Neves scored 30 goals for Wolves during his time at the club and often, fans would see him point to his head.
But where did that even come from? Neves shared all back in 2019.
Where Ruben Neves famous celebration came from
We’ve seen it from a few other footballers in recent times.
Marcus Rashford has often celebrated scoring goals in the same way, and although he popularised it, Neves was doing it for quite a while before.
Back in January 2019, Neves sat down to partake in a video with Soccer AM for their YouTube channel.
He spoke with presenter Tubes and dished the dirt on his teammates at Wolves.
He was asked to name the teammate who was the ‘celeb planner’, with Neves stating that some of the boys would organise to do a knee slide in the event of a goal. He then stated that Raul Jimenez was the best knee-slider.
Tubes then told Neves that he had an interesting celebration.
“It’s all about Pirlo,” Neves said. “Pirlo is my reference in football, and he has a book where he said ‘I think before I play’.
“So that’s why I do that celebration. So I think, therefore I do what I like to do.”
Neves then said that if he had to ask Pirlo one question it would be ‘How can you be so calm in the World Cup final?’ Because in the book, Pirlo says that he had played his PlayStation in the afternoon before the game.
Wolves fans hope for Ruben Neves return
Pirlo was definitely an incredible player, and it’s easy to understand why Neves held him as a role model growing up.
The Italian was a genius on the field at times, and Neves was also that during his time as a Wolves player.
There was great sadness when he left the club in 2023 to join Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal.
His sale helped Wolves financially, although he did get a lot of criticism personally for making that move.
Given his love for the club, Wolves fans would love to see Neves back at the club some day.
And one would suspect there is a reasonable chance it will happen, with Neves recently confessing he’d watched every Wolves game in 2024/25.
Neves also said returning to Wolves was ‘an open door’ for him, so fans would love to think he’ll be gracing the Molineux turf again in the coming years.