It wasn't supposed to end like this.
Rewind to January 2023. Wolves' pursuit of Joao Gomes, a promising young midfielder from Flamengo in Brazil, is becoming the stuff of lore. Social media is awash with the #FreeJoaoGomes campaign as his club play hardball. Jorge Mendes - our Uncle Jorge - is fluttering his eyelashes in the direction of Lyon, as negotiations teeter on the fine line between success and failure.
But Joao never wavers. He wants Wolves. He gives his word to Wolves. He becomes Wolves. And to cap it all off, he only goes and scores the winner on debut in a game where we unjustifiably go down to 10 men away at Southampton.
He was a hero before he even had chance to become one. His was a bit part role as we secured survival, but once the tumultuous summer of 2023 had been presided over, he cemented himself as the lynchpin we all hoped he would become under Gary O'Neil.
Joao was our loveable tyro. He plays with the enthusiasm of a child whilst retaining the physical capacity of a friendly nightclub bouncer. I don't think it's fully appreciated how hard you have to be to make it in South American football, but it's no surprise having watched him for the past few years that he was forged in seriously combative environments. His love of Jiu-Jitsu is written all over his ability to win the ball from the most improbable angles and buffet against almost any type of challenge from all sides. His demonstrable enjoyment of this side of the game was lapped up by the fans (even if I personally found it a tad tacky and performative). He's just so easy to like.
All of this has been built whilst managing a stammer which afflicts his ability to converse in his native language, let alone in English and he's done great work in highlighting this for those who deal with it on a daily basis.
He remains rough around the edges. His passing lets him down at times. He still struggles to consistently strike the ball well. He's of minimal use in the final 1/3 for a midfielder that covers as much ground as he does. This is where his reputation - I would say unfairly - has taken a hit.
It's inarguable that nobody who partook in the worst season in the club's history emerges with credit. But there are mitigating circumstances for a few. Joao Gomes has delivered a whole catalogue of top level performances in a Wolves shirt. Despite that explosive start, there are very few where he's displayed genuine match-winning qualities. In the absence of Matheus Cunha, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Pablo Sarabia and (despite being there in body, if not spirit) Jorgen Strand Larsen, there seems to have been some sort of assumption that Joao would pick up some of that slack. By the start of this season he'd been at the club for 2 and a half years - surely you can work out where he can and can't deliver for us on that basis? All of this then bled into the idea he and his compatriot Andre couldn't play together. Clearly there is a hole in their game when paired together - the lack of quality progressive passing - but the two of them had basically owned midfield after midfield together during Vitor Pereira's first six months at the club. You can pinpoint specific games where both have been the standout individual on a Premier League football pitch at numerous points across the past two seasons. Neither were ever the problem.
The primary issue being that Joao's ability to influence games is limited to the quality of player he is giving the ball to, as it is with many players who operate from midfield backwards. With the current state of the market in the central midfield position though, you can be forgiven for thinking we've been shortchanged here. £100m for Sandro Tonali. £116m for Elliot Anderson. £48m for Andrey Santos. £38m for Joao Gomes. This doesn't feel commensurate with his peers, nor commensurate with his experience and visible impact on Premier League football. But as we know, we're operating in a slightly separate market.
It's a well-worn story now that Atletico Madrid pulled out of negotiations with us (Mendes) on the basis they were promised the signing of Bernardo Silva, who has subsequently linked up with Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid. The Mendes Carousel in full effect. Whilst working with him on a move to Atletico, a club very much in bed with Uncle Jorge themselves (Diogo Jota and Jonny Otto were both Atletico players who signed for us without playing a single minute for them), perhaps you could understand a reduced fee on the basis there is a 'return' somewhere along the line. There's an argument we were extorted by them for Matheus Cunha, who was deemed surplus to requirements, as well. We may never know if there was a fee in his current contract that he was allowed to move for, but it appears the cost to Aston Villa is the same. This may have been exclusive to Champions League qualified clubs. You can't help but feel shortchanged in this context.
It's plenty for a Championship club to go after and replace adequately for the upcoming season. But as our marquee individual, the primary player that Wolves fans had a connection with as we slipped out of the Premier League, watching West Ham secure £85m for Fernandes - who just so happens to be a Gestifute client - then forgive me for suffering the sour taste I've had since we've pivoted once again to Mendes' tan-stained arms.
For Gomes, this ticks all the boxes. Yes we've had a rivalry with Villa for the best part of the last 10 years, but there'll be no sideways glances at what they're doing next season. No jibes exchanged back and forth. The bedrock of all of this was playing them and playing them well at Molineux in particular. He's going to a Champions League club as he enters his prime and as a Brazilian who will no doubt be eyeing a slot in what is a catastrophic Brazil midfield. Whichever way you judge his time as a Wolves player, it's unquestionable that he gave it everything he had and has carved out a small but special place in our history as his career goes on an upward trajectory.
It's disappointing that he leaves at the lowest ebb of his Wolves career. It really wasn't supposed to end like this.