Jorge Mendes insists Wolves player would have been sold for €100m+ – Bad luck stopped the transfer

Wolverhampton Wanderers star Pedro Neto could have been involved in a transfer worth over €100m if it wasn’t for bad luck, according to his agent Jorge Mendes.

The representative is today featured on the front page of newspaper Record, as he gave them a long interview with the details of many transfers.

Mendes had been explaining that he and Gestifute created a pattern for Benfica to sell players for the exact amount of €15m, and that included some who joined Wolves.

“This industry is a world of contacts, knowledge and trust. But nobody gives anything to anybody. I sold Ivan Cavaleiro for €15m to Monaco, but then Wolverhampton paid the same amount; then Fulham paid more,” said Jorge Mendes.

“The same with Hélder Costa. They were two fundamental and decisive players in Wolverhampton’s rise to the top, worth much more than they cost. And there were offers for both of them well above their cost. Bernardo Silva and João Cancelo have reached the top. It fills me with pride and that’s what drives me.”

Then speaking of Pedro Neto, he claimed that he could have actually been sold for more than €100m, and that only didn’t happen because of a physical problem.

“Pedro Neto had played five minutes at Braga and left for Lazio because the president trusted what we told him. In the meantime, he got back what he had paid – at the time Pedro Neto was about to go to Benfica, but he went to Wolverhampton. And he wasn’t sold for more than 100 million euros because he got injured. It’s my life and what fulfils me and what I’ll continue to do.”

Pedro Neto was loaned by Braga to Lazio in the summer of 2017, with the Serie A side paying a €7.5m fee. In 2019, the deal was made permanent for €11m. When they completed that operation, Wolves already had an eye on him, and immediately paid €17.9m for his signing.

Mendes doesn’t make it clear which injury stopped his €100m+ transfer, but it’s probably the knee issue from 2021 which sidelined him for nearly a year.