Wolves manager Vitor Pereira is lucky to have several gems in his squad.placeholder image
Wolves manager Vitor Pereira is lucky to have several gems in his squad. | Getty Images
This international star was signed by Wolverhampton Wanderers for a bargain fee, and is now worth far more
Wolverhampton Wanderers have forged somewhat of a reputation in recent years for identifying stars in the making and registering vast amounts of profit on their prize assets.
Whilst being a selling club is a precarious position in the Premier League in 2025, evidenced by Wolves’ current league position, there is no doubt that the West Midlands outfit have become experts at securing top young players and selling them on for vast sums after just a couple of years.
Most recently it was Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri, before that it was Pedro Neto, Max Kilman, Ruben Neves and the late, great Diogo Jota. In the final knockings of the summer transfer window Jorgen Strand Larsen was almost added to that list, as Newcastle United were prepared to pay upwards of £55million for a man who had been signed for just £23m the very same summer.
He is not the only high-value gem who remains in the Wolves squad, as another key man was signed for just £15m in 2023 and has seen his value more than triple since then.
Joao Gomes has seen his value rocket during time at Wolves
Brazilian midfield maestro Joao Gomes signed from Flamengo in his native Brazil for £15m on deadline day of January 2023, after Wanderers had beaten Lyon to the signature of the highly-rated starlet, just 21 at the time.
Gomes would score the winning goal at Southampton on his Premier League debut, as it became clear pretty quickly that the Old Gold had another gem on their hands. He nailed down a starting spot by the end of that first season, and just over two years later the 24-year-old has amassed 88 Premier League appearances, 81 of those from the start, and is just two appearances away from reaching a century for the club in all competitions.
With the 2026 World Cup on the horizon, Gomes will look to rediscover his best form in the hope of earning a spot on the plane to North America next summer. He was recently recalled for the October friendlies against Japan and South Korea, but was an unused substitute for both matches.
Gomes is now worth £50m if rival clubs come calling
If Gomes continues to shine for Wolves this season and earns a place in the Brazil squad next summer, it is likely that he might be the next Molineux star to be the subject of top-level bids in the near future.
Previous reports earlier in 2025 stated that Wolves had put an asking price of £50m on Gomes to ward off interested parties, with those considering a move for the midfielder said to include Liverpool, Manchester United and Bayern Munich amongst more European giants.
Wolves fans will hope they can hold onto Gomes in January as he could prove key to their survival hopes. After a challenging start to the season for the player, as it has been for the whole side, it remains to be seen what he could be worth after the World Cup. But one thing for sure is that Wolves uncovered a real gem back in January 2023.
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