This summer, Pedro Neto will be a player in the headlines as clubs attempt to prise him away from Wolves.
Gary O’Neil has said that Wolves won’t be under pressure this summer to sell their best players, which is encouraging.
However, Fosun are keen for Wolves to be self-sustaining, and history tells us that top talents at Molineux do eventually end up leaving.
Last summer, Ruben Neves and Matheus Nunes both left. Diogo Jota also departed in the summer of 2020 to join Liverpool.
It is expected that Neto will be the next big sale at Wolves, with reports suggesting the club could be looking for around £80 million for the rapid winger.
It has even been claimed that Neto himself believes that he’ll be the next major sale, and many Wolves fans are realistic about the situation – Neto is an incredible player with enormous potential and surely won’t be at the club too much longer.
So Wolves have to be thinking about replacements – and seemingly, the club actually might be looking at someone who could genuinely step right into Neto’s shoes…
Why Rodrigo Gomes has potential to be ‘next Pedro Neto’ at Wolves
It has been reported that Wolves are currently keeping tabs on Rodrigo Gomes, a 20-year-old wide player from SC Braga who is currently on loan at Estoril.
Gomes has enjoyed a fine campaign so far, scoring six goals and making seven assists.
There are a few reasons why this player may soften any blow of losing Neto in the summer.
First of all, Gomes is very versatile and this season, he has played on both wings for Estoril and sometimes even played as a wing-back. As Wolves fans are well aware, Neto is comfortable on both the right and the left.
One of the things people first think about when they think of Neto is how fast he is, and that he loves to dribble.
In a feature written by Football Talent Scout, it is stated that Gomes possesses ‘blistering pace’ and is ‘very effective in counter-attacking situations’. It is also said that ‘he is definitely an attacking threat and can both create and score goals’.
Given Gomes is only 20, he is obviously not the finished article. So FTS do say that the attacker sometimes gets his decision-making wrong, which was certainly the case with Neto in his early years at Molineux.
But ultimately, he’s got 13 goal contributions so far this season for a team that’s been struggling as a collective over in Portugal – that’s only one fewer than Neto for Wolves although, granted, Gomes has played 2142 minutes to Neto’s 1672.
Neto is an exhilarating player thanks to his ability to take players on. But according to Fbref data, young Gomes actually has a higher take-on success rate than Neto so far this season (46.8% to Neto’s 41.2%).
We will see what happens this summer and if Wolves make a move for Gomes and of course, if Neto moves on. If Neto does go, then Gomes certainly doesn’t seem like he’d be a bad replacement.