Wolves legend Steve Bull hopes Ruben Neves has ‘the worst tournament ever’ at the 2022 World Cup.
Portugal get their campaign underway later today against Ghana.
It is a match that will have many eyes on it, given they are a nation with many world-class players in their squad.
There is extra attention on Portugal at the moment, following the explosive interview Cristiano Ronaldo gave last week about Manchester United.
Portugal have Ghana in their opening game and are the clear favourites to win.
But we have already seen Saudi Arabia beat Argentina, and Japan beat Germany.
Ghana will take real heart from those two results and seek to cause another upset in Qatar.
From an England perspective, there needs to be as many upsets as possible to aid the Three Lions’ bid to become World Champions.
Wolves’ all-time top goalscorer Bull – who got 13 caps for England – has joked that he hopes Wolves maestro Neves really flops in Qatar. That’s because he doesn’t want him drawing attention to himself before the January transfer window.
He said (via Express & Star): “If I put my Wolves hat on I hope he’s absolutely shocking and doesn’t have a good tournament!
“But that’s my Wolves head speaking, as a player I want him to go from strength to strength.
“He’s a world class player and he’s proven that at Wolves, he continues to prove it at Wolves.
“If he has a good World Cup then there will be alarm signals all over Molineux saying ‘Is he staying?’ ‘What’s going on?’
“In my head, as a Wolves person, I hope he has the worst tournament ever, but as a player I hope he can have the best one and try to score a few goals.
“As I say I hope he can get as many caps under his belt as possible and I wish him all the best.”
Ruben Neves surely won’t leave Wolves in January, as Steve Bull jokes he hopes star will have terrible tournament
There is always the possibility that players can really invite interest from other clubs if they play well at the World Cup.
It is the ultimate shop window.
Wolves fans would like to think that Neves can have a really good tournament in Qatar but not leave Molineux in January.
There is bound to be interest in him in January, regardless of how well he plays.
But new head coach Julen Lopetegui has already suggested he wants to build the team around him in the second half of the season.
Wolves are currently facing a relegation battle, and to sanction Neves’ exit would be a shocking oversight.
His market value will obviously end up dropping. But losing Neves mid-season would be a catastrophe.