Wolves manager Gary O’Neil has opened up on the departure of Matheus Nunes to Manchester City, and has wished the midfielder well.
The 25-year-old joined for around £53m on transfer deadline day after a long saga which saw the Portugal international go on strike at Molineux.
Nunes joined Wolves last year from Sporting Club De Portugal, and clearly impressed Pep Guardiola in his one season in the Premier League enough for Man City to splash out on him.
Speaking on TalkSPORT, O’Neil revealed that whilst Nunes’ actions to attempt to force the move through were not ideal for Wolves, but praised the midfielder’s ability.
“It’s difficult for me to talk about now because Matheus is obviously at Manchester City. I don’t want to talk too much about Manchester City’s players. That wouldn’t have been how I chose to handle it,” he stated.
“I know players nowadays have a lot of people advising them on how best to do things. As a club, we were always really clear on how the process would go. We had a valuation for Matheus. We also had things we needed to try and get in place to make sure we could replace him within the next few days.
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“So that the offer we received, if it had got to the level we were happy with, we were always going to give Matheus our blessing and allow him to move on.
“But the way the player behaves in that situation doesn’t change that. It doesn’t bring the price down, it doesn’t make us more keen to do it or not do it.
“There’s a lot of things that go into a player moving clubs, especially at that time in the window. It’s not how I would have chosen to do it.
“But before that time with Matheus. A very talented boy. He’s a good kid, works his socks off every single day for us. Hopefully the move goes well for him.”
Unfulfilled potential?
It is arguable that whilst he did well overall at Wolves, Nunes did not perform to his true capability as seen at Sporting, and perhaps the move to Man City can help him reach a different level.
Although he was impressive at times, Nunes did have occasional dips in form, but playing under Pep Guardiola in a settled team should help him play to the best of his ability.
Nunes is capable of playing both as a deep midfielder and further forward, and it will be very interesting to see what role Guardiola has lined up for him following the departure of Ilkay Gundogan from the midfield this summer.