According to Sport, Arsenal are set to give Barcelona serious competition for the signing of Wolves’ Ruben Neves.
The Portuguese has been one of the pioneers in establishing Wolves as a strong Premier League force since arriving at the club in 2017 from FC Porto for £16 million.
Since then, he has appeared 220 times for The Wanderers, scoring 25 and assisting 12 times. A large proportion of the strikes which have found the back of the net, have been impressive long-range efforts.
He has also played 32 times for Portugal and is considered a reliable asset by national team coach Fernando Santos.
The 67-year-old is not the only one who admires his countryman. It is the likes of Man Utd, Liverpool, and more recently Barcelona and Arsenal, who are looking at the player with admiring glances.
While Mikel Arteta is keen to add another midfielder in the ranks, after the failed pursuit of Douglas Luiz last summer, 26-times La Liga champions Barcelona have earmarked Neves as the perfect replacement for the aging Sergio Busquets – whose contract expires next year.
The report further suggested that the club from Catalonia were serious about signing the 25-year-old last summer. But talks reached an impasse due to Wolves asking for up to £52m [€60m].
Arsenal have also shown genuine interest in the player in the past two summer windows. However, they have not launched a bid for the Premier League star as yet.
Neves will have only one year left on his current deal at Molineux in the upcoming summer and he does not look fascinated by the prospect of putting pen to paper at Wolverhampton.
The 25-year-old is looking for a new adventure and it looks like he’ll have plenty of options both here in England and in Spain.
For Arsenal and Barcelona, it is a great opportunity to sign one of the best central midfielders in the world. Neither will be willing to give up on Neves easily.
