Ruben Neves is officially no longer a Wolves player.
The midfielder’s move to Al Hilal was confirmed on Friday, with Wolves releasing an emotional video of Neves speaking about his time at the club and bidding farewell.
It is a move that has come right out of the blue.
Word of Al Hilal being interested only arrived a week ago today.
After Neves got Portugal’s two games out of the way, he then finalised his move to the Saudi Pro League outfit.
Many had expected him to join Barcelona.
But the Spanish giants were in no position to offer straight cash, and Al Hilal ended up offering more than Wolves expected.
It’s a great deal for the club given the FFP issues.
But it’s also somewhat sad that Neves is heading to Saudi when he could be playing for a top European club.
That said, he is now being paid a fortune, and Dave Edwards rightly pointed out that this money could set up several generations of Neves’ family.
He goes with the blessing of many Wolves fans, and he’s been receiving lots of messages on social media since Friday.
Diogo Jota, John Ruddy and others send messages to Ruben Neves after Wolves exit
Neves has posted a few times on Instagram since his move to Al Hilal became official.
His first post was him uploading his farewell, which was filmed at Molineux.
He captioned the upload ‘Thank you all. Once a wolf, Always a wolf’.
Fans commented in their droves, and there were also some nice messages left by current and former teammates.
The likes of Daniel Podence, Jose Sa, Mario Lemina and Hwang Hee-chan all responded.
Former Wolves winger Diogo Jota – who so often benefited from Neves’ brilliance – left a few emojis, and ex-Molineux stopper John Ruddy left a particularly heartfelt message, saying: “Said it before and I’ll say it again. You and your family deserve nothing but the best. Amazing player but an even better man. Good luck pal.”
Neves’ international teammate Ruben Dias also left some clapping emojis to show his support.
Ruben Neves leaves behind a huge hole at Wolves
Neves was an amazing player for Wolves.
He was also a fantastic servant, who stayed far longer than anyone really expected him to.
He always conducted himself so well, and it’s clear he was a highly respected figure in the dressing room.
We’ve actually seen Wolves look decent without him in the team. Certainly, Mario Lemina and Joao Gomes look a top pairing together in midfield.
But he will still be greatly missed at Molineux.