Wolves fans were left heartbroken in the summer of 2023 when Ruben Neves left the club.
It had been on the cards for months, but many were hit for six when news filtered through that Ruben Neves was departing after a six-year spell.
Most had expected him to join a top club in Europe.
For a while, Barcelona were linked with the player, with Arsenal from the Premier League having also been keen.
But Neves joined Al-Hilal, a move that brought him a lot of criticism.
He was the first player that could be considered in or approaching his prime to make a move to the Saudi Pro League, and many others then followed.
Ultimately, Neves made the move to Al-Hilal set up his family.
Neves signed a three-year deal with Al-Hilal, but the former Molineux skipper could actually now leave the club earlier than expected.
Ruben Neves eyed by FC Porto two years after leaving Wolves for Al-Hilal
It has been reported by A Bola that FC Porto are considering trying to re-sign Neves this summer.
Neves has a year left on his Al-Hilal contract.
But apparently, there are two potential windows of opportunity for Porto; to loan Neves, or sign him on a free transfer.
A Bola point out that it’s never likely that clubs allow players heading into the final years of their contracts out on loan.
So the second option is more feasible – but that would require Neves terminating his contract with Al-Hilal.
It is not made clear if Al-Hilal would actually be willing to do this.
It is, however, stated that it would be a ‘complicated’ move for Porto, who do not have the best financial situation at the moment.
Ruben Neves to Porto would be extremely surprising
No one really expected Neves to spend the rest of his playing days in Saudi, given the age he made the move.
But Neves making a move back to Porto after just two years at Al-Hilal would be really surprising.
He is now just really starting his peak, and Neves could surely still play for a club in a top five European league. Data shows he’s performed strongly in Saudi, as expected, and he is surely primed to thrived back in Europe.
We’ll see what happens, but surely Al-Hilal would not simply be willing to terminate Neves’ contract after two seasons when they signed him up for three initially.
Unless there has been some kind of gentleman’s agreement somewhere down the line.
Amid these claims, some Wolves fans are likely to clamour for the club to get involved. But we’ve seen that Vitor Pereira loves physical profiles, and he may not actually see Neves as someone Wolves particularly need right now.
Even if Neves did leave the door open to a return to Wolves one day.