In his pre-match press conference ahead of Newcastle United’s trip to the south coast to face AFC Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium, Eddie Howe refused to deny or rule out speculation that Newcastle could be interested in signing Ruben Neves in the January transfer window.
When questioned on potential interest in Neves, Howe responded by saying that he was a player ‘we liked at Wolves’ and went on to suggest that they are ‘open to signings from anywhere if they’re good enough and they make our team better.’
He refused to make a sincere comment on the potential rule changes forbidding clubs from loaning players within the same ownership group as Newcastle had been linked with a move for Neves on loan from Saudi Pro League side, Al Hilal, who are owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), who also control Newcastle.
Ruben Neves made the move to the Saudi Pro League this summer for a fee believed to be in the region of around £47 million from Wolverhampton Wanderers. He has gone on to make 23 appearances for the club, across all competitions.
Al Hilal, who also signed the likes of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Neymar, Malcom and Aleksandar Mitrovic, are currently leading the Pro League table with ten victories and two draws in their opening 12 matches, under the management of Jorge Jesus.
Neves began his youth career with Porto in 2005, at the age of just eight. He played with the Dragons for eight out of nine seasons before his professional debut in 2014; with a loan spell at Padroense in the middle of that youth career.
After captaining Porto in a UEFA Champions League match and making 93 appearances for Porto’s first-team across three seasons, he moved to then Championship outfit Wolverhampton Wanderers for around £15.8 million and was instrumental in helping the club win promotion to the Premier League.
Wolves finished seventh in their first season up, qualifying for the UEFA Europa League, and he eventually went on to make 253 appearances and scored 30 goals for the club before departing this summer.
