Gonçalo Guedes became the latest Portuguese star to join Wolverhampton Wanderers this week, joining on a five-year contract from Spanish side Valencia.
According to reports close to the deal, Wolves will pay Los Ches around €32m plus add-ons for Guedes, who enjoyed arguably the best season of his career last term at the Mestalla.
The move sees the winger reunited with Bruno Lage, who coached Guedes in the Benfica academy. Speaking after his unveiling in England, Guedes admitted that Wolves’ Portuguese boss was a major factor in him choosing to head to the west midlands to join the Luso contingent at the club.
“I had two or three phone calls with the manager, we already knew each other from my time at Benfica, so it was key to me coming to Wolves.
“Speaking to Bruno and some of my national team teammates made me want to come here, as they said it was a great league and that they wanted to achieve big things at Wolves, so speaking to them was definitely one of the biggest reasons.
“I'm really proud to be here. To get into this team and to get to the Premier League is really good for me, I'm really happy and hope to get started as quickly as possible. I'm really excited, it's a league that every player wants to play in and now I just want to settle in as quickly as I can so I can already help the team on Saturday if possible.”
Familiar faces
Guedes’ arrival will bring the number of Portuguese on the books at Wolves to 10, led by new club captain Rúben Neves. Molineux is also home to Seleção internationals José Sá, Nélson Semedo, Daniel Podence, João Moutinho and Pedro Neto, while Bruno Jordão, Toti and Chiquinho are also new teammates for Guedes.
“A lot of them spoke to me and told me to come here when we were together with the national team,” Guedes said. “They told me that it was a club that was growing a lot, with much more recognition than in the past and speaking to them was critical for me.
“I already have a great relationship with some. I already played two, three seasons together with Nélson at Benfica and then the national team, so we already have a really close relationship. And I've known Rúben, Moutinho and Sá for a while from the national team, which is great and will make for a much easier adjustment.”
Last season saw Guedes score a career-high of 13 goals in all competitions, including 11 in La Liga – the first time he has broken into double figures in league competition. The 25-year-old reached new heights individually despite Valencia enduring a forgettable campaign with a 9th place finish.
“I hope I can better those figures [from last season], but the most important thing is for the team to be well and be as high in the table as possible, that's the most important thing,” he said. “If we are good collectively, then that will make it easier to stand out individually.
“I want to get as many goals and assists as possible, help the team and try to have Wolves on the higher end of the table, fighting to win titles.”
Guedes should make his Wolves debut on Saturday in the home clash with Marco Silva’s Fulham.
By Sean Gillen
