Ruben Neves admits he’s been surprised by Wolves fans

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Neves has helped Wolverhampton Wanderers to fourth in the Championship.

Rúben Neves in action for Wolves

Ruben Neves has told the Guardian he’s been pleasantly surprised by the Wolverhampton Wanderers supporters’ backing so far.

Neves became Wolves’ club-record signing in July, arriving in a £16.4 million deal from Porto (Transfermarkt).

And though his old side averaged 37,000 fans per home league game last season – around 9,000 more than Wolves (28,380) this campaign – a question about the atmosphere at his new one was enough to prompt a ‘smiling, wide-eyed’ response, according to the Guardian.

“The atmosphere is incredible,” he said. “I’ve been surprised in a very positive way. I knew the crowds here were really good from watching on television but to be in the middle of the stadium, it’s something really impressive.

Wolves’ Molineux Stadium

“To feel the fans are with you is so important and it’s something we have home and away. Even when we go somewhere that’s three hours away, our part of the stand is always full and that always helps us.

“I hope this continues and that we carry on working as a team, all together.”

Neves certainly appears to be reaping the benefits, having racked up an average score of 7.12 this season with whoscored.com – better than all but five of his teammates.

But while Wolves have also begun the new campaign brightly, taking 10 points from their first five matches to sit fourth in the standings, their promotion credentials have been called into question by Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman.

Sky pundit Don Goodman

Goodman, a former striker at Wolves, told the broadcaster: “As for Wolves, I’ve also seen a couple of teams pass their way out of the league, like Bournemouth and Swansea, but you usually need a good mix.

“If you’re going to get promoted you need to be able to win games when you don’t play well, and to do that in the Championship you have to be able to fight and scrap. Are these young foreign lads going to be up for that on a cold night in February?

“The early acid test for them was the game against Cardiff, if they’d won that I would have sat up and taken real notice. But they lost and it was a little bit of a reality check for them, while it may also have provided a template to other teams.

“It’s still been a good start for them, though, and there’ll be more tests for them to pass around the corner.”

Can Wolverhampton Wanderers go all the way this season?