Flamengo hand Wolves £16.5m ultimatum as Joao Gomes battle rages on

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Joao Gomes is holding out for Wolverhampton Wanderers but the Premier League outfit have been told by Flamengo that they must match Lyon’s £16.5 million bid to win the race, according to FootMercato. 

Tony Roberts, Wolves goalkeeping coach, said what everyone at Molineux was thinking on Thursday night. Taking to Twitter, Roberts implored Flamengo to ‘Free Joao Gomes’.  

But it will take more than a hashtag and some public pressure to convince the Copa Libertadores holders to let their 21-year-old ‘bloodhound’ seal a dream move to English football.

Joao Gomes has made no secret of his desire to join a club in the Premier League; FootMercato claiming that he has already given his word to Wolves. 

But money talks, as they say. And Lyon’s £16.5 million bid currently dwarves that of Wolves by £1.5 million. The Ligue 1 giants are also willing to hand Gomes a larger salary at Stade OL than he would get in the Midlands, with American businessman John Textor giving Lyon’s spending power a timely boost. 

Wolves face Lyon battle for Flamengo midfielder Joao Gomes

“He’s a player we’ve been watching for a year and a half,” admits Bruno Cheyrou, Lyon’s chief scout. “Before, the timing was not good. Financially, we could not go there.

“(But following the arrival of Textor), a window has opened, and we are trying to rush in. This player, I like him very much. It would be a dream to sign him.”

“He has a lot of qualities. He’s a modern defensive midfielder. A very good player,” adds OL head coach Laurent Blanc. “I like him above all because he is very solid defensively. Defensively, we lack this aggressiveness and this player has strength.” 

Joao Gomes, reportedly also on the radar of Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen and Liverpool, completes 3.2 tackles per game in Brazil’s top flight. A higher average than anyone currently in Julen Lopetegui’s Wolves’ squad. Hence Blanc’s comments about Gomes being ‘very solid defensively’ (WhoScored). 

FootMercato add that, if Wolves do not increase their initial offer, then Gomes will be encouraged to join Lyon instead.

The relegation-threatened outfit have already signed Matheus Cunha, Pablo Sarabia and fellow midfielder Mario Lemina this month, while the struggling Goncalo Guedes has returned to Benfica on loan.