‘Doubtful’ Barcelona pursuit gives Wolves star ‘several girlfriends’ in PL ahead of summer move

FC Barcelona have reportedly put the signing of Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Ruben Neves on ‘stand-by’, perhaps handing the initiative to one of the player’s ‘several girlfriends’ in the Premier League.

The Portuguese international has been strongly linked with a transfer for a while now.

Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona and Arsenal have all been linked in the past. However, it seems that the Gunners have moved on after signing Jorginho and pursuing Moises Caicedo and Declan Rice.

The Reds need midfield reinforcements, while a player like Neves could be a perfect signing for United, who are expected to sign a new midfielder at the end of the season.

Barcelona are always looking to use the transfer market to improve their team, but are often on the lookout for cheap deals, and Neves will surely cost a pretty penny.

However, the 25-year-old is out of contract in less than 18 months, so he could be available for a respectable fee this summer.

Transfermarkt value the player at €40million (£35.4m), though fees between £60m and £100m have been mentioned in the past.

Barcelona’s pursuit of Neves has been put into serious doubt due to their ‘very complicated financial situation’.

This is according to Sport (via Fichajes), who say the Portugal playmaker has become ‘open’ to the idea of leaving Molineux to join another Premier League side.

There are now ‘serious doubts’ if Barcelona can afford Neves. All is well for the player, however, as he has ‘accumulated several girlfriends in the Premier League’. These Spanish outlets really do have a way with words.

Furthermore, the coaching staff at the Nou Camp now prefer Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi – who was linked with Arsenal in January.

Wolves will ‘look for a way out’ for Neves this summer as he enters the final year of his contract, the report adds.

Neves and his agent, Jorge Mendes, will not wait about for Barcelona to make a sufficient bid, resulting in Manchester United, Liverpool, and Newcastle United ‘positioning themselves’ to sign the midfielder in the summer window.

The former FC Porto teenager was handed the Wolves captaincy at the start of the season following Conor Coady’s loan move to Everton.

He has had a stellar campaign in a pretty poor team, though Julen Lopetegui looks to have turned things around after replacing Bruno Lage.

Neves has five goals in 20 Premier League matches this season and Wolves have now won three of their last four matches in the top flight – including a 3-0 victory over Liverpool.

The threat of relegation is slowly decaying under their new manager. The Molineux club are now 15th in the league, five points above the relegation zone.

They host AFC Bournemouth next week in a huge match at the bottom of the Premier League.

READ MORE: Every Premier League club’s biggest derby victory this century…