Among the signings that Wolverhampton Wanderers made from Portugal last summer, there was some expectation that they could land the Benfica youngster Diogo Gonçalves as well.
Newspaper Record claimed that Nuno Espírito Santo was ‘waiting’ for the player to join, as the 20-year-old would arrive on a loan deal.
But the Portuguese press went quiet since that, with the rumour dying fast. Although the plan was Gonçalves would join Wolves because of a lack of game time at the Eagles, he ended up doing well in the fight for a place in the team, and has seven appearances for them this season.
Now if Nuno Espírito Santo was still hopeful that the winger could be signed in the future, things have just got a lot harder. Because according to Record today, Gonçalves has just signed a new deal.
Besides a pay raise, the new contract also has an increase to the player’s release clause, going from €35m to €45m.The new agreement clearly shows that Benfica believe he can be a first team player, so from now on a move to Wolves only sounds more unlikely.
That’s bad news even for Arsenal, whose interest has been claimed a long time ago, as Gonçalves has been laballed as ‘Wenger’s passion’ and had to reject talking about the interest this summer.
