Wolves captain Conor Coady reveals his first impressions of Ruben Neves

Conor Coady has revealed that he didn’t believe Wolves teammate Ruben Neves could handle the rigours of football in England. The Portugal midfielder joined the club from Porto in July 2017 whilst they were still in the Championship.

Neves made 42 appearances in his first season at Molineux, and played an important part in the club’s promotion winning campaign. The 25-year-old midfielder has since gone onto establish himself as one of Wolves’ key players under former manager Nuno Espirito Santo and current boss Bruno Lage .

However, Coady was left underwhelmed by Neves’ performance during a pre-season friendly defeat at Shrewsbury and questioned whether he had the appetite for the English game. The Portugal star had only been in the country for a matter of weeks, but his display at New Meadow left a lot to be desired according to the Wolves captain.

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“Remember we got tonked by Shrewsbury, didn’t we? Came from Austria and got battered. I remember Ruben Neves went off injured,” Coady told In The Stiffs podcast .

“Honestly, I remember thinking to myself: ‘this fella?’ I can say this now because he’s one of my best mates but Shrewsbury were flying into you and Ruben got absolutely walloped.

“It was his first game and I thought [is English football going to be for him?] It’s a natural thing to think of. I ate my words, though. What a player.”

Neves has certainly proved to be a successful signing for Wolves and has made 206 appearances for the club, scoring 24 goals and notching 12 assists. His contract at Molineux runs until the summer of 2024.