Welcome to Wolves Ruben Neves

[NicholasG1973]

I'm surprised that a serious offer has never materialised. The amount of times he has oozed class and dominated games against higher ranked opponents yet from what I can recall there has not been much in the way of rumours of him leaving to join one of the sky six.

Neves is easily the finest player I’ve seen at Wolves in over 40 years.

But I think the thing that possibly the big sides get put off by is his slight lack of pace.

He’s not slow by any means but, if you watch players like Rodri and Gundogan live, you’d be amazed how quick they are.

Only my opinion of course - the rest of his game is up there with any of them.

 

[PuntsWolf]

Think there have always been question marks from the elite.

Firstly he was playing in a team who played deep and countered with a back 5. Often played too deep himself and then question marks about his engine/mobility.

Think this year he has parked all those though. Gets around the pitch, wins the ball, obviously good on it and even getting forward and chipping in with goals.

 

[Alan]

This is why stats are bollocks.

What you've said is all well and good but frankly a load of crap in the context of the actual game of football.

Well no, not really my point.

Stats are incredibly useful and powerful, you can't throw them away out of hand. The question is whether that's been about Ruben himself or the tactics he has played under. Potential buyers clearly think finding out the answer to that is risky.

If he keeps scoring goals like he did against Liverpool they'll start chucking silly money at us, I bet.

 

[Johnny75]

Well no, not really my point.

Stats are incredibly useful and powerful, you can't throw them away out of hand. The question is whether that's been about Ruben himself or the tactics he has played under. Potential buyers clearly think finding out the answer to that is risky.

If he keeps scoring goals like he did against Liverpool they'll start chucking silly money at us, I bet.

You can when the sample sizes are so small and contain too many variables.

It is impossible to see the value of a player in a specific team in a specific formation by stats alone.

As @PuntsWolf has pointed out his game has changed this season from anything that has gone before.

 

[Alan]

By stats alone, sure, but you can't just use the eyeball test. That's even more malleable than spinning hard numbers to fit a tale.

 

[WsWolf]

Well no, not really my point.

Stats are incredibly useful and powerful, you can't throw them away out of hand. The question is whether that's been about Ruben himself or the tactics he has played under. Potential buyers clearly think finding out the answer to that is risky.

If he keeps scoring goals like he did against Liverpool they'll start chucking silly money at us, I bet.

Then they are idiots. I want my holding midfielder to be able to win it back and progress it when he does, Neves does both of those as well as anyone.

 

[Johnny75]

By stats alone, sure, but you can't just use the eyeball test. That's even more malleable than spinning hard numbers to fit a tale.

Nope. Eyeball test is perfectly good enough in football.

Nobody has come up with decent stats yet to measure players.

 

[Johnny75]

Then they are idiots. I want my holding midfielder to be able to win it back and progress it when he does, Neves does both of those as well as anyone.

I think his game is more than just a holding midfielder now too. JL looks like he's getting so much more out of him.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Looking at numbers before actual performance leads you into the kind of situation where Real Madrid let Claude Makélélé go because he didn't score or assist many. Then took virtually a decade to replace him and won comparatively very little along the way.

 

[Alan]

Nope. Eyeball test is perfectly good enough in football.

That seems shockingly subjective to me.

 

[Johnny75]

That seems shockingly subjective to me.

It is. And football is subjective because not everything can be quantified with accuracy.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Tammy Abraham has a way better goalscoring record than every forward we have (if we're separating Raul out from pre-injury/post-injury).

If we signed him he would be fucking dreadful. Just doesn't fit.

 

[Alan]

Tammy Abraham has a way better goalscoring record than every forward we have (if we're separating Raul out from pre-injury/post-injury).

If we signed him he would be fucking dreadful. Just doesn't fit.

Don't disagree. I would hope that GS and xGS would not be the only stats a scout looked at, though.

And, obviously, I'd hope that they'd watch some actual tape, too.

 

[Mel Evo]

We should have never let Rafa Mir go based on his stats at Huesca...

...except we had actually met him, so we were able to mug Sevilla instead (they must have had a right drunken sailor of a manager at the time).

 

[Langers]

Glory hunting mates of mine seem to have this snobbish thing about Ruben - it's basically 'he can't be that good because he's never played for a CL team' (which is in itself incorrect but I digress..). It's weird.

He's the best Wolves player I've ever seen and it's remarkable that we've had him for this long - his consistency levels are superb. He must have been in with a shout for POTY here every season since he joined.

 

[Carsy]

I think with neves it’s a case of as some people had said, certain stats (G/A), the fact he plays for Wolves and the amount of money we’d want. Not many Holding/deep lying midfielders go for 60m+ plus.

We likely value more than his worth to other clubs, or what other clubs see.

I am in no way complaining, I personally think he gets In nearly all premier league teams. Genuinely may take compassionate leave when/if he leaves for a day or two.

 

[Alan]

Whatever the reason, it means we've had him way longer than any of us thought. Maybe shouldn't look the gift horse too far in the mouth.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Fred cost Man Utd £47m. In 2018, so add on five years' worth of football inflation.

If not for his contract situation I'd definitely be looking at £60m as a starting point for talks.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I just think we are phenomenally lucky both Ruben and his family seem to love living here. Seeing him with his missus and the pram in west park a few years ago was bizarre.

 

[Carsy]

I mean, this is totally out of left field, and I’m not suggesting he warrants one, but if neves say stayed here for another 5 years for example, would he warrant a statue or anything etc?

It’s pretty clear he is going to be heralded as a bit of a legend, not to the level of bully, billy wright etc just wandered how that situation would occur