This summer, when Wolverhampton’s partnership with Jorge Mendes started to succeed, there were many players from the Portuguese league being linked to the club. Some were bought, but others were simply out of reach.
One of these was Tiquinho Soares. The rumours started in England, and when they reached Portugal, the local press claimed that there was simply ‘no chance’ he would be sold to Wolves.
Soares joined Porto in a €5.7m deal in January, and had an incredible impact with 12 goals in only 17 games. That’s why when the rumour was out, Porto simply wouldn’t negotiate if not for his release clause, which is €40m. As he’s a Jorge Mendes client, it was a rumour to be keeping an eye on.
But well, things change a lot in football, and the scenario is completely different now.
With only 278 minutes played this season, Soares has now been finding it hard to conquer a place in Porto’s starting team, and has scored only one goal so far.
And it’s not like he isn’t having chances in a struggling team. Porto sold their best striker, André Silva, in the summer. But instead of stepping up, Soares couldn’t leave the bench and has seen Marega and Aboubakar both lead the club to the top of the table.
Something very similar has been happening to Iuri Medeiros. Also linked to the Wolves in the summer, the Spoting loanee had been doing very well at Vitória Guimarães last season.
So the Lions expected him to join the club and finally impress for them, but that isn’t what’s been happening. The midfielder has only 110 minutes played in the league this season, so we wouldn’t be surprise to see him loaned or sold soon.
But Medeiros’ links weren’t so convincing, so unless Wolves started monitoring him after seeing him in the media, this one is not a summer rumour that should be getting back to the headlines.
Tiquinho Soares, on the other hand, is one to monitor.
