Goncalo Guedes.

[Sussex Wolf]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1616234070379208705

 

[Flump]

Well at least Mendes sorted his mates at Valencia out with 27m of PL money just when they needed it I suppose. Just like he did for Barca with Semedo.

PSG fans: well at least Mendes sorted his mates at Wolves out with a 30 year old Spanish international for a bag of pomme chips and the change they found down the side of their chaise longue.

 

[Rauls Headband]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1616234070379208705

How fast did he get into the shirt? Quickest I’ve seen him move all season!

Joking apart, it’s never good to see a player clearly struggling and not settling, so hope this move is something that helps him get some mojo back as that only benefits all parties in the long run.

 

[Mugwump]

I dunno why Mendes gets any criticism here, he isn't the guy with the checkbook - like any agent he's there to negotiate on behalf of his client. Those that seem to think Mendes getting a cut of every move is something sinister need to remember it is literally what an agent does for a living.

It's up to Wolves who they decide to open negotiations with and not too many seemed disappointed when we brought Guedes in.

That he hasn't succeeded is partly on the club, mostly on the player. As a club you need to create the optimal conditions for your investments to succeed. Did we do that? Probably not, but there's no denying we didn't exactly scout this one very well. Always looked like he was in the process of falling over whenever he got the ball, looks boss-eyed, rarely picked up a sprint, pressing was half-hearted at best and is very easily dispossessed.

Looked very quickly like he didn't want to be here. I know body language isn't always indicative of the true picture and none of us know exactly what went on but it's a pretty safe hypothesis given he hasn't come anywhere close to his best form and is already on his way back to Portugal.

It must be tough coming into a squad in turmoil, which we were, no question about it, but i was a bit concerned at his lack of English. While i dont think he didnt want to be here, he could have done more to help himself.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

How fast did he get into the shirt? Quickest I’ve seen him move all season!

Joking apart, it’s never good to see a player clearly struggling and not settling, so hope this move is something that helps him get some mojo back as that only benefits all parties in the long run.

He wasn’t doing anyone any good where he was, so I think this is good for all parties. Now just send us Fernandez the other way, and we’ll all be happy!

 

[Hot Fuss]

You do know he was injured while he was playing in that Chelsea game. Shouldnt have even been on the pitch.

not on the medical staff Muggy, so didn’t know. Must have been a bad injury because he didn’t actually manage to jog.

Out of interest was he also injured at Forest, when he was equally pathetic? In a quarter final?

 

[hollo]

Guedes is delighted at rejoining benfica. Check out the link.

Gonçalo Guedes - page 1902 - Geral - Serbenfiquista.com

Gonçalo Guedes - page 1902 - Geral - Serbenfiquista.com

serbenfiquista.com

 

[Big Saft Kid]

Oh come on sir.
that’s a very simplistic slant on this. I doubt it’s anything like this.

What do you think it's 'like' then?

 

[TheRetroChief]

Offers **** all. Get rid

Similar to Adama.

 

[Mugwump]

not on the medical staff Muggy, so didn’t know. Must have been a bad injury because he didn’t actually manage to jog.

Out of interest was he also injured at Forest, when he was equally pathetic? In a quarter final?

It was pretty common knowledge about him in that Chelsea game. He was nowhere near fit enough to play but iirc we were low on troops. It was a virus he had iirc.

I dont think he was that bad against Forest tbh. I dont think he was good either, but i saw plenty of runs and movement from him that he never got the ball from. I think tbf thats been the story of his season. Even without him setting the world on fire, his movement off the ball and the runs he makes arent bad, but our build up play ( mainly thanks to that clown Lage ) have just become so ponderous and predictable that nothing ever came from them.

After half a season here, i think with him, despite all these conspiracy theories about him, that he's just never settled and been happy here. As has been mentioned previously, i dont think the atmosphere under Lage helped anything, but Guedes i think could have helped himself more as well.

 

[The House of Wolves]

His heart was never at Wolves so… **** him.

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

Not the ideal way to get him out the door on the basis he’ll be back in the summer but least he’s off the wage bill for a bit. Ideally he rips it up at Benfica and we can claw back a large part of his fee in the summer.

 

[Matt]

I like that we've identified that he isn't up to a relegation scrap, replaced him (Sarabia) and then got rid for six months. Really hope he does well at Benfica and then we can all re-asses in the summer.

 

[sillytuna]

It was pretty common knowledge about him in that Chelsea game. He was nowhere near fit enough to play but iirc we were low on troops. It was a virus he had iirc.

I dont think he was that bad against Forest tbh. I dont think he was good either, but i saw plenty of runs and movement from him that he never got the ball from. I think tbf thats been the story of his season. Even without him setting the world on fire, his movement off the ball and the runs he makes arent bad, but our build up play ( mainly thanks to that clown Lage ) have just become so ponderous and predictable that nothing ever came from them.

After half a season here, i think with him, despite all these conspiracy theories about him, that he's just never settled and been happy here. As has been mentioned previously, i dont think the atmosphere under Lage helped anything, but Guedes i think could have helped himself more as well.

We'll never really know about that chelsea game. He may have not wanted to play as well as not being 100% because that's what it looked like. Davies should have hooked him very early on either way because while people joke about playing with ten men, that day we really were.

He wasn't the worst at forest and I really do think people underplay the liverpool game even if now I'm pretty sure he was playing for a move. He was completely different in that match - talking players through stuff, helping out, etc.

The blame is on the club rather than the player for me. He clearly didn't suit anything about us. It felt more like someone had just wanted him for years and he was another stupid buy instead of building a squad. This month's buys are genuine squad building.

 

[Mugwump]

I like that we've identified that he isn't up to a relegation scrap, replaced him (Sarabia) and then got rid for six months. Really hope he does well at Benfica and then we can all re-asses in the summer.

Thats an excellent point. Sometimes even a good player might not be right for the situation you are in at a certain time. I think we need players with big personalities in a relegation battle.

 

[Oldgoldilox]

Being objective, his goal Vs Brighton was him stumbling and accidentally toepoking it into the net as he planted a balancing foot. He knew nothing about it.

I do think he nearly ****ed it up at the end but the rare moment of positivity and directness prior to that was what opened my eyes. Not to be seen again.

 

[greco wolf]

not on the medical staff Muggy, so didn’t know. Must have been a bad injury because he didn’t actually manage to jog.

Out of interest was he also injured at Forest, when he was equally pathetic? In a quarter final?

was he injured all season? played like he was.

 

[YouGottaRaulWithIt]

I’m not talking about being poor, we’ve had loads of players with less ability.

We’ve also had players who havnt given it there all.

Borthwick-Jackson for example acted like he was doing us a favour by turning up.

However, Guedes at Chelsea was something else. Honestly. I was close to the front and watched him. He looked like a lad whose mates had dragged him out of bed to play at East Park on a Sunday morning to make the numbers up despite him having absolutely no interest in playing football at all, couldn’t give a **** about the result and just wanted it to end so he could go to the pub for midday.

It was incredible. People were going past him and he just stood there, not even a token jog back or sticking a leg out to make it look like he gave a toss.

His performance at Forest, in a ****ing quarter final, was similar.

I get transfers don’t always work, I get he may not have settled and I get that he wants to go home. No issue with that, but to pull on a Wolves shirt, go onto the pitch and just not give a **** to the extent he did is unbelievable. Don’t expect him to have any affection for the club, just staggerd that a young man could lack any pride and heart whilst playing professional sport.

Long rant, as you can probably tell he really ****ed me off.

So, what are you saying, do you want him to come back or not?

 

[JOSWolf]

Didnt look interested here. Good riddance.

 

[JuliusCaesar]

I've always thought he was ****. Still think he's ****. Haven't seen anything, including goals in the league where Rafa Mir and Willian Jose have also returned good goal tallies, to make me think differently. Glad he's gone, was gutted when Wolves signed him.

Wolvesugal tonight.

Fernandes and Felix were big disappointments but I think it's down to the manager. Too defensive, they have arguably the best midfield/forwards in the world but were dominated for large parts. That diamond didn't work and the full-backs, who attack for their clubs, didn't seem to get...

www.molineuxmix.co.uk

Sarabia is such an upgrade.

 

[Northampton_wolf]

Not the ideal way to get him out the door on the basis he’ll be back in the summer but least he’s off the wage bill for a bit. Ideally he rips it up at Benfica and we can claw back a large part of his fee in the summer.

Claw back his wages, let him sign for a spanish or sporting/benfica over summer.

Just like trincao needs the type of the league which is spanish/portugal

 

[SakosRightFoot]

It was pretty common knowledge about him in that Chelsea game. He was nowhere near fit enough to play but iirc we were low on troops. It was a virus he had iirc.

I dont think he was that bad against Forest tbh. I dont think he was good either, but i saw plenty of runs and movement from him that he never got the ball from. I think tbf thats been the story of his season. Even without him setting the world on fire, his movement off the ball and the runs he makes arent bad, but our build up play ( mainly thanks to that clown Lage ) have just become so ponderous and predictable that nothing ever came from them.

After half a season here, i think with him, despite all these conspiracy theories about him, that he's just never settled and been happy here. As has been mentioned previously, i dont think the atmosphere under Lage helped anything, but Guedes i think could have helped himself more as well.

Where has this come from that he was ill? Never heard it before and like others have said it seems awfully convenient and must have been effecting him for multiple games until it became common knowledge JL was coming and he suddenly started trying for 2 matches. Was he also ill at Brentford when he was awful and stormed off down the tunnel at full time?

Or, more likely, is he lazy and didn’t want to be here? I remember reading or seeing an interview with Jota when he first came about learning English as a teenager because moving to England would be the best career move down the line, clearly Guedes never ever bothered and that says something about his character. Come park him to Cunha and the attitude difference is night and day

 

[Rauls Headband]

Thats an excellent point. Sometimes even a good player might not be right for the situation you are in at a certain time. I think we need players with big personalities in a relegation battle.

There's definitely a good player in there, I'm just not sure he's the right player for the way football is played in the Premier League.

Would he have folded if he'd been in that Man City side last night when they went 0-2 down?

If his personality is such that he's only useful when things are going well, do we want that anyway because the PL is ALWAYS a battle regardless of whether you're in a relegation scrap or not. Lopetegui has already called out that each game now in the league is a cup final, tbh that's a fair assessment of any game in the PL in any season, its why the league has the reputation it has.

Not really bashing the bloke, the intensity of the PL doesn't allow the time for many excellent technical gifted players to show their best and its spat out players better than Guedes!

 

[Northampton_wolf]

SARABIA is an upgrade on Guedes fact.

We got Sarabia for dirt cheap he is JL's man.

Guedes was a mendes/lage

Cant see anything else but a sale

 

[SmiffyWolf]

Always thought he was total **** so offered nothing so what have we lost from him going on loan . Road Cone in a shirt would offer us similar

 

[Frank Lincoln]

I wish the lad well and hope he can get his career back on track.

 

[Mugwump]

Where has this come from that he was ill? Never heard it before and like others have said it seems awfully convenient and must have been effecting him for multiple games until it became common knowledge JL was coming and he suddenly started trying for 2 matches. Was he also ill at Brentford when he was awful and stormed off down the tunnel at full time?

Or, more likely, is he lazy and didn’t want to be here? I remember reading or seeing an interview with Jota when he first came about learning English as a teenager because moving to England would be the best career move down the line, clearly Guedes never ever bothered and that says something about his character. Come park him to Cunha and the attitude difference is night and day

Davis at the time said he had been sick and the plan was only to use him for 45 mins in that Chelsea game. If i get the urge i'll try to find the exact article, but from memory he had a virus for the majority of the week but they didnt think he would last the game so they only planned on him playing for 45 mins. I'd say he probably was a bit more drained that they thought he was for that particular game. He did have some minor injuries as well early on iirc, but nothing major.

Not speaking English to me, while it would help him immensley, is a bit of a strange one to have a pop at him for when we dont know his capability to learn a language. Maybe he just couldnt grasp the language. You dont know for sure he never bothered, maybe he just isnt cut out to learn English. Its all pure guess work. I lived in Sweden for 6 months and i just couldnt for the life of me get the hang of it, but French i picked up pretty quickly when i was there. I do think some players will learn a different language of a country they want to play in, maybe Guedes wasnt intending to play over here.

 

[Mugwump]

SARABIA is an upgrade on Guedes fact.

We got Sarabia for dirt cheap he is JL's man.

Guedes was a mendes/lage

Cant see anything else but a sale

PSG have a very close relationship with Ungle Jorge.

 

[SakosRightFoot]

Davis at the time said he had been sick and the plan was only to use him for 45 mins in that Chelsea game. If i get the urge i'll try to find the exact article, but from memory he had a virus for the majority of the week but they didnt think he would last the game so they only planned on him playing for 45 mins. I'd say he probably was a bit more drained that they thought he was for that particular game. He did have some minor injuries as well early on iirc, but nothing major.

Not speaking English to me, while it would help him immensley, is a bit of a strange one to have a pop at him for when we dont know his capability to learn a language. Maybe he just couldnt grasp the language. You dont know for sure he never bothered, maybe he just isnt cut out to learn English. Its all pure guess work. I lived in Sweden for 6 months and i just couldnt for the life of me get the hang of it, but French i picked up pretty quickly when i was there. I do think some players will learn a different language of a country they want to play in, maybe Guedes wasnt intending to play over here.

Impossible to prove but from what I’ve heard I think Davis may have been telling porkies to protect Guedes in that game. As I said he was almost as lazy and poor in many other matches, just the Chelsea one stands out because of the sheer ineptitude of his performance and getting hooked at half time. Even if he was ill it still isn’t a particularly good excuse for not trying, if he was digging deep as others were and just not getting there we’d all say fair enough good try, but he didn’t try and that’s why I can’t accept an excuse.

On the language thing, I’m not knocking him for not learning it in 4 months, I’m saying other players recognise learning English will be useful in their careers as Jota and clearly Cunha did. Guedes despite being a top talent clearly had no appetite to come to England and hadn’t made any preparations for it. So when it happened he’s been caught in a foreign country, unable to properly communicate and is probably miserable. Going home is good for him but if he isn’t addressing some of the issues about why his move to Wolves has failed so far and why arguably his move to PSG failed too then he’s an idiot

 

[Rhyl Wolf]

Maybe as we seemed to be chasing him for years, but such a disappointment. There is nothing worse than being unhappy in your place of work, especially miles & miles away from home. Having said that, pretty sure I'd grin and bear it for a footballers' salary. And have pride to make an effort. He just never wanted to be here.

 

[WolfLing]

I like that we've identified that he isn't up to a relegation scrap, replaced him (Sarabia) and then got rid for six months. Really hope he does well at Benfica and then we can all re-asses in the summer.

Yeah, this will be it. He may still have a future here. We know Lopetegui likes him if he's willing to play here.

We also know that his value is probably rock-bottom right now and is likely to be higher after 6 months of playing and maybe scoring some goals. So if we do want to sell him, it works too.

 

[TheConcourse]

I dunno why Mendes gets any criticism here, he isn't the guy with the checkbook - like any agent he's there to negotiate on behalf of his client. Those that seem to think Mendes getting a cut of every move is something sinister need to remember it is literally what an agent does for a living.

It's up to Wolves who they decide to open negotiations with and not too many seemed disappointed when we brought Guedes in.

That he hasn't succeeded is partly on the club, mostly on the player. As a club you need to create the optimal conditions for your investments to succeed. Did we do that? Probably not, but there's no denying we didn't exactly scout this one very well. Always looked like he was in the process of falling over whenever he got the ball, looks boss-eyed, rarely picked up a sprint, pressing was half-hearted at best and is very easily dispossessed.

Looked very quickly like he didn't want to be here. I know body language isn't always indicative of the true picture and none of us know exactly what went on but it's a pretty safe hypothesis given he hasn't come anywhere close to his best form and is already on his way back to Portugal.

I can tell you now, as someone who places senior execs inside of SaaS businesses, if I placed a candidate who left after 6 months because they didn’t like the environment then I’d be getting absolutely slammed as the agent.

This is on Jorge. 100%. He should be so closely aligned to his clients needs that the margin for error is next to nothing from a culture fit and vision perspective.

This has been lazy, shoddy and looking at Guedes’ past record, pretty predictable.

Gotta be honest, I felt for Guedes last week, but the more I think about this the more the whole situation irritates me.

 

[bigwolf]

I think the signings so far the shift in our strategy. Mendes having less influence and bringing in players who actually want to be here for the right reasons.

 

[Starsky]

I think all Wolves fans understand the 'give and take' approach required with Mendes, but this Guedes deal absolutely stinks - same as the Fabio one.

It also reflects the total ineptitude at the club before JL joined.

 

[WolfLing]

I can tell you now, as someone who places senior execs inside of SaaS businesses, if I placed a candidate who left after 6 months because they didn’t like the environment then I’d be getting absolutely slammed as the agent.

This is on Jorge. 100%. He should be so closely aligned to his clients needs that the margin for error is next to nothing from a culture fit and vision perspective.

This has been lazy, shoddy and looking at Guedes’ past record, pretty predictable.

Gotta be honest, I felt for Guedes last week, but the more I think about this the more the whole situation irritates me.

We've also got to remember how influential Bruno Lage being here was in Guedes's decision to join us.

Guedes said at the time, “I had two or three phone calls with the manager, we already knew each other from my time at Benfica, so it was key to me coming to Wolves."

Guedes might have found it tough initially anyway, but Lage leaving 3 months after he joined probably made any situation worse.

From Mendes's point of view, he may have thought the risks of bringing Guedes here based on his previous record of lasting 7 months in Paris were balanced out by Lage being here. That quickly changed.

These things happen. For every Neves, there'll be a Guedes (success vs failure) for every Moutinho, there'll be a Semedo (value vs poor value).

We've kind of just got to take the rough with the smooth and appreciate that we wouldn't even be able to attract players of Guedes's stature in the first place if it weren't for Jorge Mendes.

 

[Skrilla]

I think the signings so far the shift in our strategy. Mendes having less influence and bringing in players who actually want to be here for the right reasons.

The Cunha signing definitely had something to do with Mendes. Aside from that, we've spent relatively small fees on the likes of Lemina, Dawson, Sarabia, possibly Gomes. We still haven't spent over £20m on a player that wasn't from Gestifute or from a club within the Mendes carousel.

 

[Northampton_wolf]

We've also got to remember how influential Bruno Lage being here was in Guedes's decision to join us.

Guedes said at the time, “I had two or three phone calls with the manager, we already knew each other from my time at Benfica, so it was key to me coming to Wolves."

Guedes might have found it tough initially anyway, but Lage leaving 3 months after he joined probably made any situation worse.

From Mendes's point of view, he may have thought the risks of bringing Guedes here based on his previous record of lasting 7 months in Paris were balanced out by Lage being here. That quickly changed.

These things happen. For every Neves, there'll be a Guedes (success vs failure) for every Moutinho, there'll be a Semedo (value vs poor value).

We've kind of just got to take the rough with the smooth and appreciate that we wouldn't even be able to attract players of Guedes's stature in the first place if it weren't for Jorge Mendes.

agreed that lage was a big thing for guedes, he was to be lages main man clear, alongside then a target striker (sasa)

 

[TheConcourse]

We've also got to remember how influential Bruno Lage being here was in Guedes's decision to join us.

Guedes said at the time, “I had two or three phone calls with the manager, we already knew each other from my time at Benfica, so it was key to me coming to Wolves."

Guedes might have found it tough initially anyway, but Lage leaving 3 months after he joined probably made any situation worse.

From Mendes's point of view, he may have thought the risks of bringing Guedes here based on his previous record of lasting 7 months in Paris were balanced out by Lage being here. That quickly changed.

These things happen. For every Neves, there'll be a Guedes (success vs failure) for every Moutinho, there'll be a Semedo (value vs poor value).

We've kind of just got to take the rough with the smooth and appreciate that we wouldn't even be able to attract players of Guedes's stature in the first place if it weren't for Jorge Mendes.

I’m pro-Mendes. We’ve found how hard it is to do deals without him. It’s just harder to influence clubs.

I do think he should have done a way better job with Guedes though.

If Guedes decided to come here for a manager that had won 1 in 14 games going back to the season before then he’s been badly advised IMO.

 

[yateleywolf]

Well he looks happy enough on his first interview at Benfica up to him now to make it work no more excuses.

 

[O Lobo do Parque Leste]

I wish the lad well and hope he can get his career back on track.

Really?... I hope he comes home to find his missus in bed with the neighbour. But, hey-ho.