Neves rather oddly stayed in the shop window at Wolves for six seasons; maybe he’s doing something similar now in Saudi; acting as a beacon to an unfashionable footballing project. His eventual sale felt like the beginning of the end of the Gestifute-era Wolves model.
The following season, Wolves were compelled to buy Matheus Cunha for around £50m after the appearance clause kicked in, despite him managing just 17 games and 2 goals during the loan. At Atlético he’d scored 6 in 40, yet somehow his value had risen from the £35m they’d paid Hertha. Still, once the purchase went through, his sudden transformation turned out to be an unexpected boon for Wolves.
The £100m generated from Cunha and the eventual sale of Gestifute-pipeline signing Rayan Aït-Nouri, with no following notable re-investment, it really feels like the last echoes of that whole project may have finally played out for Mendes/Fosun. The Chinese company now managing finances increasingly stringently due to the subsequent tightening of domestic regulations and its own debt-reduction strategy. History will see it as a unique strategic partnership which briefly elevated Wolves above their modern mean of mid-table Champ.