One of the rather exciting transfer sagas of the January window was the fight between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Lyon for João Gomes.
The then-Flamengo midfielder had been the subject of an offer from Wolves, which had been accepted by the Brazilian side, only for the Ligue 1 club to then come in with a slightly better financial package transfer fee wise.
That’s when the Série A team decided to prioritise a move to France for their player, but Gomes fought back, making it clear he had already given his word to the Molineux residents.
Then came a rather frustrating stalemate for Wolves, as Flamengo continued to try and force their star to head to France, but the player dug his heels in and refused to break his promise.
In the end, Lyon understood it was a lost cause, and eventually turned to other targets, picking up Jeffinho from Botafogo instead.
Wolves finally were able to get a deal for João Gomes over the line, which they announced with a great video.
Fast forward to Friday, and Jean-Michel Aulas sat down to present Jeffinho and some other signings, where he was asked about the tussle with Wolves.
He said, relayed by RMC Sport: “Bruno Cheyrou had made a number of contacts that were close to being successful when we offered to start again on a Brazilian solution with João Gomes, but he had already given his agreement to an English club. Contrary to what has been told, we were on time.”
