Wolverhampton Wanderers have had some major sales over the past few summers. It has certainly not made things easy for them this season; the Old Gold sit 19th in the Premier League on six points, having won their first top-flight game last weekend against Southampton.
Over the last two few summers, they have lost some prominent first-team players. In 2023, former club captain Ruben Neves was sold to Saudi side Al-Hilal and his fellow Portuguese midfielder Matheus Nunes joined Manchester City. More recently, Max Kilman signed for West Ham United last summer.
However, there is one sale which has arguably impacted the club – and current boss Gary O’Neil – more than any other. That player is Pedro Neto.
Neto’s Wolves career
It was a memorable weekend for Neto during the most recent round of fixtures, as he scored his first Premier League goal for Chelsea to earn them a hard-fought point, as the Blues drew 1-1 at home to Arsenal.
It was a stunning long-range strike, and it perhaps demonstrates just how high of a level the winger can, and is, playing to at the moment.
He made the move to West London over the summer, with Wolves eventually settling for a fee of £54m including add-ons. The 24-year-old has made a good start to life in Blue, with three goals and three assists to his name in 13 games.
Even though his Molineux career was tarnished by injury, Neto was superb for the Old Gold during his time at the club. He featured 135 times in total, scoring 14 goals and grabbing 24 assists. The Portugal international starred during the 2023/24 Premier League season. He played just 20 games, but scored twice and grabbed nine assists, a very productive campaign.
Injuries did ravage Neto’s career at Wolves, however. Since the start of the 2019/20 season, the 24-year-old missed a total of 584 days out with injury. The longest spell he was out for was 52 games between April 2021 and February 2022.
Although he struggled with fitness throughout his time at Molineux, there is no doubting Neto’s brilliance for the Old Gold. They miss him after his summer departure and have yet to find a replacement.
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However, there was a period of time when Wolves thought they had Neto’s dream replacement in the academy.
The ex-academy star who could have replaced Neto
The player in question here is young winger Theo Corbeanu. The 22-year-old Canadian attacker was once highly rated at Molineux, described by journalist Alex Dicken as someone who could ‘follow Pedro Neto’ and become a prominent first-team player.
He was also highly regarded by those within the club at the time, with U23 boss James Collins hailing him as “an outstanding prospect”, while stating that he’s “got a bit of everything“.
The youngster never really managed to establish himself at Molineux, however. He went on five separate loan spells, some in England and some across Europe, looking to gain experience in an attempt to break into the Old Gold’s first team.
The winger, born in Ontario, did not manage more than six goal involvements in a single loan move. He managed one goal and five assists in 18 games for Swiss side Grasshoppers of Zurich.
Corbeanu’s record on loan | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Club | Games | Goals | Assists |
Grasshoppers of Zurich | 18 | 1 | 5 |
Blackpool | 18 | 3 | 1 |
Sheffield Wednesday | 18 | 2 | 3 |
MK Dons | 17 | 1 | 1 |
Arminia Bielefeld | 15 | 0 | 0 |
Stats from Transfermarkt | |||
Corbeanu played once for the Midlands club, making an eight-minute cameo in a Premier League game in 2020/21 against Tottenham Hotspur away from home. He featured on the bench a further 12 times but was an unused substitute.
In February 2024, the winger made the move from Molineux to Spain amid his limited role under O’Neil, joining Granada on a permanent deal. He has played 19 times for the club so far, across both the first and second tier of Spain, and has just one goal to his name.
Looking back on the deal, Wolves fans will surely be disappointed that their Neto replacement was not someone waiting for his opportunity in the academy, with it certainly frustrating that Corbeanu could not kick on and become a first-team regular.
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