Joao Gomes’ three-and-a-half-year spell with Wolves has come to an end, with the midfielder joining Aston Villa permanently.
The Brazilian, fully committed whenever he stepped on the pitch, moved to Molineux from Flamengo in January 2023 and went on to play 130 times for the club, whilst winning multiple Player of the Season awards during a successful spell in Wolverhampton.
Having been gradually bedded in during his first half season in English football, and following a debut winner at Southampton, Gomes cemented his place in the side regularly for the 2023/24 season and never looked back.
During that campaign under Gary O’Neil, Gomes flourished alongside Mario Lemina in the midfield, scoring a memorable brace as Wolves won at Tottenham Hotspur which proved his highlight of the season.
Four goals the following campaign was his most productive in front of goal, and Gomes, then partnered by fellow Brazilian Andre, was voted Player of the Season by the club’s supporters, having helped Wolves avoid relegation.
Last season the 25-year-old surpassed 100 appearances for the club, and despite relegation out of the Premier League, he was voted Players’ Player of the Season, as well as Community Player of the Season for his work alongside the Wolves Foundation.
Technical director Matt Jackson said: “Joao deserves everything he gets from the game. He’s a model professional, a lovely young man and a great family man. He’s the type of professional that coaches love and players love, so he will go on to be the outstanding player that we know he is.
“We’re obviously sorry to see him go, but we have to take responsible decisions for the football club, and then we build to be stronger collectively. It's a very natural part of football, the best run football clubs who don’t have unlimited resources have to work this way. The model is something that we have to adopt, and our fans have always been hugely understanding of that.
“We've had two weeks of training and Cesar and his coaches are getting to know the players more and more, and the bond they’re building is a real positive. Of course, there's going to be changes before the end of the transfer window, absolutely, but we really like the shape that we're in at the moment.”
