Wolverhampton Wanderers look to have made a serious transfer blunder in the summer, as it seems unlikely at this point that Goncalo Guedes has a future at Molineux.
How much has Guedes cost Wolves?
Following a season of struggle in front of goal under Bruno Lage, the Old Gold looked to bring in attacking reinforcements for the Portuguese manager in the summer transfer window.
Guedes looked to be the ideal signing for the Midlands outfit, as he had hit 11 goals and six assists in the 2021/22 La Liga campaign for Valencia and was an established Portugal international, joining the large Iberian contingent at Molineux.
Wolves would pay £27.5m to sign the winger, as he signed a five-year contract at Molineux, but he struggled to have any real impact in his first few months with the club, with Lage sacked after the 2-0 defeat against West Ham in October.
The 26-year-old would make 13 appearances in the Premier League in total, contributing just one goal and one assist, with WhoScored awarding him a shocking 6.38 average rating for his performances.
Wolves' mistake with Guedes perhaps became clear with his first-half display in the 3-0 defeat against Chelsea earlier in the season, with The Athletic's Steve Madeley not holding back in his criticism of the Portuguese wide man, describing his performance as "awful."
He was expected to add quality in the final third but ranked fourth for shots, ninth for key passes and 17th for dribbles per game in the top-flight, so it was no surprise that Julen Lopetegui was not keen on keeping him around in the January transfer window.
The Spanish manager was clearly not impressed with what he saw from Guedes and he would join Benfica on loan for the rest of the season, where he has improved somewhat, notching one goal and one assist in six league appearances thus far, averaging a far more impressive 7.03 rating from WhoScored.
While he will no doubt be given another chance to impress Lopetegui in pre-season, it is poor recruitment such as this that has left Wolves in the position they find themselves in, with relegation to the Championship a very real possibility.
Should they find themselves in the second tier next season, it seems extremely unlikely that the £90k-per-week flop would stay at Wolves, and they would surely have to cash in for a significant loss.
Guedes' excessive wage means he has cost the Old Gold £2m in his 23 weeks as a Wolves player prior to his January loan exit, with Fosun having spent nearly £30m on him in total. Fortunately, Benfica are at least paying his salary until June.
Unless he can return to Molineux and redeem himself next season, that money looks as if it will go down the drain.
