Sky Sports pundit Johnny Phillips has been hailing the immense impact that Portuguese midfielder Ruben Neves has had at Wolverhampton Wanderers following his arrival with us in the summer of 2017.
Having come in for a reported £15.8million from Porto, the 21-year-old notched up his 50th club appearance in the victory over Crystal Palace prior to the October international break kicking in and in those games, he’s contributed seven goals as we took the Championship title and are now aiming to firmly establish ourselves in the Premier League with loftier ambitions being the hope of everyone from our Fosun owners right down to the fans.
It’s hard to disagree with Phillips’ words from his column in the Shropshire Star as he’s right to say that Neves has already established himself as an ‘icon’ at the club and despite being only 50 appearances in, he’s quickly on his way to legend status.
“He is inextricably linked to dreams and ambition. More than any other player on the pitch, Neves has come to symbolise Wolves under Fosun. Neves seduced an entire fan base. Those who witnessed his early performances would report back to the uninitiated with tales of his talents. Have you seen him yet? Nobody is ever too long in the tooth to fall in love. Men old enough to be his grandad would come over all misty-eyed. ‘I’ve not seen anyone like him down the Molineux before, yer know.’”
It’s a good read and I recommend you take the full piece in and I definitely think Phillips is right to compare him to the galvanising effect that Steve Bull had on the club all those years back, and in many ways, to make a comparison with the difference Eric Cantona had at Manchester United back in the 1990’s as well.
Whatever Neves’ future holds, we can only hope he has half of the loyalty of Bull and we get to keep him for longer than we don’t as at some point, the bright lights of a Real Madrid or Barcelona will inevitably come calling.
