Sporting CP manager Ruben Amorim has said the club will be purchasing Ruben Vinagre from Wolves at the end of his loan move.
The wing-back has been with the reigning Portuguese champions since the start of the season.
It was decided by the club that Vinagre should head out, with Fernando Marcal and Rayan Ait-Nouri to battle it out to be the regular starter under Bruno Lage.
It’s been a great battle between the two, and for now, it’s the Frenchman who has the shirt.
Wolves were also acutely aware that Jonny Castro Otto would be returning.
The Spaniard is back fit again and made the last two matchday squads, although he is yet to play any minutes.
So far, Vinagre has made 13 appearances across all competitions for Sporting.
The reason he hasn’t had much football this season is because he suffered an ankle injury earlier in the campaign, and he’s also been battling for minutes against Matheus Reis, who has made 33 appearances in total.
But Vinagre has seemingly done enough to impress head coach Amorim and his superiors.
The manager has said it’s the club’s intention to buy Vinagre at the end of the season.
He said (A Bola): “He’s part of our project. We have young players we want to bet on. We really believe in Ruben.
“The situation was already thought of at the beginning of the season, but the purchase is now official. He had an injury that limited him.
“This has already been said about other players, Matheus Reis does the position well, Nuno Santos too… I think of Vinagre as a team player. We count on him and he knows the hope we have in him. He has a five-year contract and we have time to help Ruben.”
The comments come after reports in December that Vinagre had been struggling. And that the permanent switch was in jeopardy.
It had been unclear how much the option to buy clause is worth.
But A Bola report it should be around €10 million/£8.6 million, with Wolves having a 50% sell-on clause.
Ruben Vinagre’s time is definitely up at Wolves
It is a good thing for all parties that Sporting are going to buy Vinagre.
He showed a bit of promise at Molineux, but never really truly convinced.
And now, the left wing-back position is looking quite strong for Wolves. Ait-Nouri has huge potential, and Marcal has shown he can do a job. Jonny is obviously back now to provide more competition.
And there’s also Ryan Giles, whom Lage seems to quite like.
Vinagre may have once been branded ‘special’ Nuno Espirito Santo (via Express & Star), but it’s the right time for him to go.