Hugo Bueno will be spending the 2024/25 season on loan at Dutch outfit Feyenoord, despite interest from other big clubs.
The Spaniard had suggested recently that he was happy to stay and fight for his place at Wolves.
But the picture changed, and the opportunity has arisen for him to get more game time with Feyenoord.
Last season, the youngster struggled for starts under Gary O’Neil, after being very much in favour under Julen Lopetegui.
Bueno played second fiddle to Rayan Ait-Nouri, with the Algerian having his best season to date at Molineux.
So Bueno will now embark on a new chapter, and sporting director Matt Hobbs has explained why the decision was made to send him to Feyenoord over other clubs.
Matt Hobbs insists Feyenoord are actually the ‘perfect’ club for Hugo Bueno
Bueno is a very talented young left-back, and it has been a shame to see him fall by the wayside a bit at Wolves in recent times.
He was so good under Lopetegui, and was arguably the shining light for the club in the 2022/23 season.
But he now has Ait-Nouri far ahead of him in the pecking order, and the 23-year-old genuinely has the potential to be special which makes life difficult for Bueno.
O’Neil admires Ait-Nouri a great deal and so, it was probably unlikely that Bueno’s situation would have changed had he stayed put. O’Neil knows that he can use Toti Gomes at left-back if needs be, and Matt Doherty is also an option.
Matt Hobbs has been speaking about the decision to loan Bueno to Feyenoord. He says Bueno had interest from other big clubs, but Feyenoord are ‘perfect’.
“Feyenoord are a club playing Champions League football, in a good league, are well known for developing players and have been great throughout,” he told the club’s official website. “For us, it feels like the perfect club for him to go to develop and we’re looking forward to seeing him develop over the next year.
“Picking the right team, the right environment, playing the right way was important. European football is obviously brilliant, because that’s going to test him, and it’s a club we know will look after him and give him opportunities. There was other interest, big clubs, but we felt the league and the club works well for what we wanted.”
It is thought that Bueno also had interest from Leeds United and Celtic.
A great move for Bueno
This has all the makings of being a really great move for Bueno, who obviously needs to play given his status as a young talent.
It’s tricky for him at Wolves with Ait-Nouri.
But Wolves know there will be a strong possibility that Ait-Nouri leaves the club next summer. He’s already had plenty of interest in this window, including from Liverpool. But the sales of Max Kilman and Pedro Neto will mean he’s highly unlikely to depart now.
If he leaves for big money in the summer of 2025, then £10,000-a-week ace Bueno could come back in as his replacement if he has done well at Feyenoord.
It is a wise move from Wolves. Bueno having a full season of regular football under his belt would be most welcome in the event of Ait-Nouri departing.