Matheus Nunes (Wolves)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2023/01/02/liverpool-transfer-news-deal-wolves-44m-matheus-nunes/

Liverpool are exploring a deal to buy the Wolverhampton Wanderers’ midfielder Matheus Nunes as per an agreement last summer when the Portugal international was close to signing for the Anfield club but the transfer did not go through.

Wolves spent around £38 million on the Brazil-born Nunes last summer, after months of Liverpool being linked with him. It is understood that Liverpool made a commitment to bid for him subsequently and that deal is still very much alive this month. Should it go through, Nunes would likely move to Liverpool at the end of this season. Although he has had a slow start to life in English football the deal is likely to be around €50 million (£44 million).

Nunes, 24, is an attacking midfielder who emerged as a major player for Sporting Lisbon over the previous two seasons. He was tracked by a number of big European clubs last season, including Manchester City. In the end he joined Wolves as a record signing with a view to moving once he had adapted to the Premier League. He has not quite been the success that Wolves had hoped.

Nunes has suffered from injuries under the previous manager Bruno Lage and then his immediate successor, the caretaker coach Steve Davis. Before the defeat to Manchester United on Saturday he last completed 90 minutes for Wolves on Sept 17 in the 3-0 home defeat to Manchester City. He has shown flashes of the form that made him such a sought-after player last summer. He made two appearances for Portugal in the World Cup, including a start in the defeat to South Korea in the team’s final group game.

Liverpool have already jumped ahead of Manchester United to make the Dutch international, and World Cup star, Cody Gakpo a major £37 million acquisition from PSV Eindhoven in the January window, a move that could cost up to £50 million eventually. Nunes is more of a long-term project but the perspective has not changed that this is a player whom the club believe has a major future at Anfield.

Liverpool and Wolves negotiated amicably the deal for Diogo Jota to go to Anfield in September 2020. The Uruguayan striker Darwin Nunez arrived from Benfica last summer for what was a club record deal for around £85 million. That transfer involved the Portuguese agent Jorge Mendes who would also have an involvement in the Nunes deal to Anfield should it go ahead.

Fosun, the Wolves owners, operate with a model of buying outstanding talent before selling for a substantial profit. The club is still fighting relegation under Julen Lopetegui. The two clubs face one another in the FA Cup third round on Saturday.

Not sure how reliable this is. I remember we were linked in the summer.

From reading elsewhere, I heard quite bizarrely we have an option to buy him even though he went to Wolves.

Couldn't even play for us until next season even if this is true right?

This guy is tier 1 for Wolves, so this is likely Jude back up.

Can’t say I’ve ever seen him play, from what I’m reading, it’s nothing to really get excited about. I’ll stick with waiting on Jude.

Last night was the first I remember seeing him play. Thought he looked good - nice and balanced runner, played with his head up and looks like he's got a good touch. Didn't get enough time to really say more than that.

Last night was the first I remember seeing him play. Thought he looked good - nice and balanced runner, played with his head up and looks like he's got a good touch. Didn't get enough time to really say more than that.

Exactly mate, he looked ok


But if you read Facebook, they talking like he destroyed our midfield and that we are stupid for not getting him last season.

F**k sake, never heard of the lad until he was linked with us.

Exactly mate, he looked ok


But if you read Facebook, they talking like he destroyed our midfield and that we are stupid for not getting him last season.

F**k sake, never heard of the lad until he was linked with us.

Well, he would be one fewer guy who can run past all three of Thiago, Hendo and Fab, but agreed it's not like he's the next Zidane or Stevie.

I think if we get anyone else in January it will be a kid (a la Harvey or Gordon) or maybe a loan. I doubt we make an actual first team purchase. Gonna be taking our lumps for a few months.

Exactly mate, he looked ok


But if you read Facebook, they talking like he destroyed our midfield and that we are stupid for not getting him last season.

F**k sake, never heard of the lad until he was linked with us.

I honestly am at a point where I don't even look at comments on any post on social media, especially Twitter. I keep coming back to that, but it truly feels like reading a bunch of 12 yo kids who's only tangible experience about football is playing FIFA on their consoles. It's almost like there is an unwritten rule or competition about who can say the least sensible thing. The best thing is you now have a bunch of accounts catering to these people so its not just the comment section who is like that, but also the posts from pages/accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers

Save yourself the suffering (and brain damage) and stop reading that crap.

I would mate, if it didn’t stick out like big dog balls on my Facebook Feed.

Is anyone else completely underwhelmed by this rumor? I don’t even think he’s a starter for wolves…..let that sink in, that’s one of our big summer targets…..a wolves bench warmer.

Is anyone else completely underwhelmed by this rumor? I don’t even think he’s a starter for wolves…..let that sink in, that’s one of our big summer targets…..a wolves bench warmer.

He has started 15 of their Prem Games so far - he does look like the sort of player Naby should be for us

Is anyone else completely underwhelmed by this rumor? I don’t even think he’s a starter for wolves…..let that sink in, that’s one of our big summer targets…..a wolves bench warmer.

Definitely underwhelmed, but I expect this is what we will see....  The owners will accurately determine that this side needs to be refreshed, but they will do it in typical FSG style -- we will sell or phase out old players and big earners (Mo, Bobby, VVD, Millie, Hendo, and Thiago) as well as anyone whose wages eclipse the return we get in performances (Naby and Ox).  We will spend small to medium size transfer fees and get players willing to play for LFC on modest wages who are in the 18 - 23 year age bracket.  We will give the likes of Darwin, Diogo, Lucho, Fabio, Harvey, Bajcetic, and Konate the reigns and will supplement them with a host of young, talented, hungry new players.  We've already shown that this model can work, and Arsenal are repeating the trick this season, so no reason FSG won't carry on like this.  Sadly, it will likely be 2-3 more frustrating seasons before we get back on another upward trajectory....

Is anyone else completely underwhelmed by this rumor? I don’t even think he’s a starter for wolves…..let that sink in, that’s one of our big summer targets…..a wolves bench warmer.

Jota was a bench warmer at Wolves when we bought him.

I'm not saying Nunes is the answer to our problems, I've not watched him enough to express an opinion,  but the club have a good recent record of identifying and developing players that fit our system and are undervalued by other people.

Jota was a bench warmer at Wolves when we bought him.

I'm not saying Nunes is the answer to our problems, I've not watched him enough to express an opinion,  but the club have a good recent record of identifying and developing players that fit our system and are undervalued by other people.

Undervalued?

We could have had him cheaper at the start of the season if we had stumped up the £40M asking price, no doubt Wolves will now sell him on with a premium!

Our so called fabled recruitment seems to have gone back to just ordinary since Edwards left.

Undervalued?

We could have had him cheaper at the start of the season if we had stumped up the £40M asking price, no doubt Wolves will now sell him on with a premium!

Our so called fabled recruitment seems to have gone back to just ordinary since Edwards left.

When I said undervalued I meant football ability rather than his transfer value. Maybe Klopp and the scouting team like him and think he's worth the money.

Jota was a bench warmer at Wolves when we bought him.

I'm not saying Nunes is the answer to our problems, I've not watched him enough to express an opinion,  but the club have a good recent record of identifying and developing players that fit our system and are undervalued by other people.

Huge myth about Jota.

He pretty much started every game he was available for Wolves.

Honestly think sometimes he got mixed up with Jonny.

Did laugh when I read that because Jürgen hugged him after the game, that meant we are in for him. Also makes me laugh the endless banging on about getting midfielders in , but then moaning about the players we are linked with

Did laugh when I read that because Jürgen hugged him after the game, that meant we are in for him. Also makes me laugh the endless banging on about getting midfielders in , but then moaning about the players we are linked with

Makes me laugh when people bang on about being hungry but then don't want to eat dog food. Also, dog food that won't be served for another 6 months.

Huge myth about Jota.

He pretty much started every game he was available for Wolves.

Honestly think sometimes he got mixed up with Jonny.

There was a time when Jota was extremely hot for Wolves scoring and assisting lots but I think towards the end of his time there he was more on the bench from what I recall, hence was very much out of the blue us signing him.

I am not particularly overwhelmed by this fella Nunes on the little I've seen but don't know enough tbh to feel confident either way. He ain't Bellingham though that's for sure and that's something of a yard stick to measure him by (and beat him with  ).

When I said undervalued I meant football ability rather than his transfer value. Maybe Klopp and the scouting team like him and think he's worth the money.

So why didn’t they stump up the money when we were outbid by Wolves in the Summer 🤷‍♂️

So why didn’t they stump up the money when we were outbid by Wolves in the Summer 🤷‍♂️

Did we actually bid for him in the summer for us to be outbid by Wolves 🤷‍♂️


If he does arrive in the summer he wouldn’t be the first player to come to us after one season at another club

This whole situation is just weird if this story is true. You want the player, but let another, much less attractive team (with all due respect to Wolves here) with, presumably, much less financial power beat you to the deal. I'll assume we never even placed a bid because I think if we do then the player and his agent naturally angle towards us and because of that there's at least an attempt from Sporting at negotiations if they aren't happy with our bid 

Now what do you expect? That Wolves will sell him, less than a year into his contract for less than what they paid for? It sounds like a sure recipe for paying much more than you would've paid if you just went for it and got him from Sporting last summer. Nothing guarantees Wolves will taste relegation and even if it were to happen teams don't really fire sale because of that like we saw in recent years (Watford and their ridiculous Sarr price tag come to mind).

Did we actually bid for him in the summer for us to be outbid by Wolves 🤷‍♂️


If he does arrive in the summer he wouldn’t be the first player to come to us after one season at another club

Lots of journo’s at the time said we wanted him but not prepared to pay the asking price.