WOLVES will fight off interest in Joao Gomes from Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool – for now at least.
The Brazil midfielder has plenty of admirers in England and Europe after an impressive first half of the Premier League season.
Gomes, 23, has started all but one of Wolves’ top-flight games and has been a standout performer along with forward Matheus Cunha.
Wanderers are moving to tie Cunha to a new deal and are determined to hold on to both Brazilians in this transfer window as they look to build on the improvement under new boss Vitor Pereira.
Gomes’ value will only continue to increase if he maintains his level of performance.
His current contract runs until 2028, putting the onus on his suitors to come up with a huge bid for Wolves even to consider selling him.
Gomes joined Wolves from Flamengo in January 2023 for a bargain £15 million.
The midfielder spoke to SunSport earlier this season about growing into life in England.
And he put his impressive performances down to his new-found love of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Gomes said: “Learning Brazilian jiu-jitsu has improved my football.
“It’s helped a lot with my mobility — and flexibility. Before I tried jiu-jitsu, I don’t think I had a lot of that. I used to have a lot of pain.
“It has given me a lot of resistance to that pain. It’s helped with my conditioning.
“So doing it has given me a lot of benefits with regards to football.“
Wolves have lost just once in four games, hauling themselves out of the Prem relegation zone in the process.
A morale-boosting 2-0 win over Man Utd on Boxing Day has seen confidence return to the first XI.
Wolves’ VAR complaints
Wolves have listed nine negative repercussions from the introduction of VAR in their complaint.
- Impact on goal celebrations and the spontaneous passion that makes football special
- Frustration and confusion inside stadiums due to lengthy VAR checks and poor communication
- A more hostile atmosphere with protests, booing of the Premier League anthem and chants against VAR
- Overreach of VAR’s original purpose to correct clear and obvious mistakes, now overanalysing subjective decisions and compromising the game’s fluidity and integrity
- Diminished accountability of on-field officials, due to the safety net of VAR, leading to an erosion of authority on the pitch
- Continued errors despite VAR, with supporters unable to accept human error after multiple views and replays, damaging confidence in officiating standards
- Disruption of the Premier League’s fast pace with lengthy VAR checks and more added time, causing matches to run excessively long
- Constant discourse about VAR decisions often overshadowing the match itself, and tarnishing the reputation of the league
- Erosion of trust and reputation, with VAR fuelling completely nonsensical allegations of corruption
And new boss Pereira believes his team have enough to pull away from the bottom three.
Following the United triumph, the said: “A man with confidence can do a lot of good things.
“In this moment, I think the team is happy, the energy is positive, the players are quality.”
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