Wolverhampton Wanderers have signed practically a whole Portuguese diaspora of footballers in recent years.
Since 2016, 19 Portuguese players have represented the Old Gold. This preference for Portugal is commonly associated with super agent Jorge Mendes.
Quality has varied within that group since Wolves’ promotion from the Championship to the Premier League. There have been Diogo Jota and Ruben Neves highs, but there have also been Bruno Jordo and Joo Teixeira lows.
Unfortunately for the purposes of this article, this Portuguese winger is leaning towards the latter group.
Gonçalo Guedes joined Wolves in what year?
Gonçalo Guedes drew Wolves’ notice as an electrifying winger with Valencia in La Liga, rebuilding his name after struggling for games at PSG.
Guedes would presumably integrate in with an already established Portuguese core. He’d fit in even more if he could translate his flashes of brilliance (as seen below) to the Premier League for Bruno Lage’s team.
Guedes scored 28 goals and collected 28 assists in 146 La Liga games during his four-year stay at the Mestalla. Lage’s arm was eventually twisted by a great last season on Spain’s east coast. Guedes was a standout in Los Ches’ 2021/22 season, scoring 11 of his 28 total goals and providing six of his 28 assists in 36 games.
Guedes, another client of agent Mendes, joined Wolves in August 2022 for an agreed fee of £27.5 million. A lot was expected of the young spark, who already had a reputable international career with seven goals in 32 games since making his debut in 2015 with Benfica at the age of 18.
By the way, he was the first 18-year-old to make his international debut since one Cristiano Ronaldo. Unfortunately, the CR7 analogy would end there because Guedes’ Premier League form was far from Ronnie’s.
What went wrong at Wolves for Guedes?
Guedes fundamentally unable to adjust to the Premier League. Form was difficult to come by upon his arrival, as he only made 17 Premier League games, scoring one goal against Brighton on November 5th, 2022.
While his first few months in England were difficult, they were exacerbated by the fact that Wolves had other players who were more than capable of competing in that position. Pedro Neto, Daniel Podence, Jonny, and Adama Traore could all be deployed on the left wing while Guedes is out.
Another factor that weighed on the quick-footed player was a comparison to Diogo Jota, a player who helped the Old Gold gain promotion.
Alex Gonçalves, a Portuguese football specialist, made the analogy when speaking with Russell Youll of the Shropshire Star.
