‘Great player’: Midfielder sold by Wolves likened to Bruno Fernandes after seven goals in six games

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Scott Sellars is right: Wolverhampton Wanderers’ decision to sell Pedro ‘Pote’ Goncalves last summer made sound financial sense.

Thanks to a sell-on clause in the midfielder’s contract, Wolves were celebrating a minor windfall when the 22-year-old moved from Famalicao to Sporting Lisbon for £7 million a year after his Molineux departure.

“We let Pedro go but we put a sell-on (clause) that would protect us,” Sellars told the Birmingham Mail last week. “He’s done fantastically well.

“That’s one way of creating money so if they’re not quite good enough for Wolves or what Nuno wants, that’s not a negative, we’re still creating revenue for the club.”

From a financial perspective, Wolves could celebrate a deal well done.

From a sporting one, however, the rapid rise of the Primeira Liga’s most in-form central midfielder is not exactly good for a club who pride themselves on putting faith in the next generation.

Wolves have not made many mistakes in the transfer market during the last three years (Patrick Cutrone aside) but selling ‘Pote’ in July 2019 might be one of them.

With seven goals in six Primeira Liga games since joining the giants of Sporting, ‘Pote’ is not only earning comparisons with Estadio Jose Alvalade legend Bruno Fernandes, he also has the Lions dreaming of a first league title since 2002.

As it stands, Pote’s remarkable goal-scoring record from midfield has Sporting four points clear at the top of the table.

And, in highly-rated coach Ruben Amorim, Sporting have a coach who will not let Pote take his foot off the gas for a second.

“He’s a great player, you can see that and the numbers are there (to prove it),” Sporting teammate, and Manchester City loanee, Pedro Porro told Mais Futebol. 

“Of course, he is a great player.”

Wolves might have made a substantial profit on a player who never made a Premier League appearance in Old Gold.

But there is more to football than spreadsheets and net spends and, while Wolves might have thought that he was ‘not quite good enough’, Pote’s staggering statistics speak for themselves.