Wolves fans can’t wait to watch Rodrigo Gomes in action this season – and some encouraging new claims have been made about the winger.
Wolves landed Rodrigo for £12.7 million from Braga, and was the first ‘new’ face this summer at the club, after Tommy Doyle had already turned his loan move permanent.
Wolves swooped for Rodrigo after seeing him shine on loan for Estoril last season, when he played mostly as a wing-back.
Rodrigo was one of the most exciting players in the Portuguese top-flight last term. And the hope is that he can help the Wolves first-team this season. It may be that his involvement is limited at first, as he gets to grips with life in England and the style of football.
But Rodrigo feels like a very positive addition – and it isn’t just because of what he offers on the pitch.
Rodrigo Gomes’ character and personality hailed after interview in Marbella
Rodrigo has been getting to know his new teammates out in Marbella in the first part of Wolves’ pre-season.
He featured in the game against Como 1907 on Monday and was lively, and has also impressed during the training sessions. Gary O’Neil said after the game with Como that he and fellow newbie Pedro Lima had both put in an incredible amount of work so far.
Journalist Liam Keen on Nathan Judah were out in Marbella casting their eyes over the first-team squad, and both have been impressed with Rodrigo, who conducted his first external media interview earlier this week.
Keen spoke on the latest E&S podcast about how he fared against Como and how he played. But he also spoke about his character and personality – and it sounds like Wolves have signed a fantastic person as well as a top prospect.
He said: “A great sign for me, we had a long sit down with Rodrigo Gomes. He comes across like a lovely, lovely guy. Quite sweet really, isn’t he? You can tell he’s quite a young lad.”
Nathan Judah added: “Genuinely lovely, innocent human being, wonderful really. Refreshing.
Keen said: “Refreshing is the right word. And then he sees us at training the following day and he waves and he says ‘Hello’. I know it seems like a normal thing for normal human beings to do. But most of the time, and I mean this with love and respect, footballers aren’t ‘normal’ people because of the nature of the job. It’s such an intense job, it’s always public-facing and it’s a difficult thing to manage.
“But he’s showing all the signs right now of someone who is so down to earth and so happy to be there. He is just delighted to be at Wolves. Wolves wanted him and he felt wanted.”
Keen added that Rodrigo is the kind of player you want to do well and root for, because of the way he acts.
On Rodrigo waving to them at training, Judah said: “You’re quite right, when he gave us a wave across – that’s not the norm for a lot of players.”
Rodrigo could be a potential Matt Hobbs masterstroke
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Quite possibly, Wolves have made a seriously good signing with Rodrigo.
The youngster seems like a brilliant prospect and his versatility could really help Wolves.
But we have also seen, in recent times, the club place a greater emphasis on signing the right characters and building the dressing room in the right way.
Matt Hobbs always talks about the benefits of signing players who are also good characters, and from the sounds of it, Rodrigo is going to prove very popular.
There looks to be absolutely zero signs of any kind of ego, just somebody who can’t wait to play for Wolves and make his mark in the Premier League. As Keen and Judah both said, it’s refreshing.