Why Wolves offloading Ruben Vinagre wouldn’t be a smart move

According to the Daily Mail, Wolves are willing to listen to offers for Ruben Vinagre this summer, with Nuno Espirito Santo looking to raise some valuable cash to reinvest in bolstering his squad.

As per the report, the 21-year-old has several admirers across Europe, and Portuguese giants FC Porto are amongst those to have shown a genuine interest in the versatile left-sided player. It has also been claimed that Nuno Santo is keen to bring in a new central midfielder to compete with Joao Moutinho, Ruben Neves, and Leander Dendoncker for the upcoming campaign. 

The report further clarifies that Vinagre is in danger of slipping down the pecking order at Molineux following the arrival of Fernando Marcal from Lyon. Wolves are, therefore, prepared to cash in on the youngster this summer.

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Ruben Vinagre spent time in the youth ranks of Belenenses and Sporting Lisbon in Portugal before moving to French club AS Monaco in 2015. The highly-rated starlet never made a senior appearance for Monaco and joined Wolves on loan back in the summer of 2017.

The 21-year-old featured 9 times for Nuno Santo’s side in the Championship during the 2017-18 season as the Black County outfit secured promotion to the Premier League as the outright winners of the second division. 

Vinagre’s loan move was eventually turned into a permanent transfer and the Portuguese U-21 international has since served as the understudy to Jonny Otto Castro at left wing-back. After playing a bit-part role during the 2018-19 campaign, Vinagre established himself in a more substantial role last term, scoring twice in 33 appearances across all competitions.

Offloading Vinagre would represent a short-sighted approach from Wolves

Ruben Vinagre has featured 67 times in all competitions for Wolves over the past three seasons, with the 2019-20 campaign yielding 33 of those appearances for the youngster. 

That’s enough to testify his impressive progress at Molineux and his performances last season, especially in the Europa League, suggest that there is a lot more to come from the Portuguese youth international moving forward.

While Vinagre has predominantly served as a utility squad player at the club, Nuno Santo hasn’t hesitated to call upon his services whenever first-choice left wing-back Jonny has struggled with injuries. There’s hardly ever been a drop-off in quality when the 21-year-old has been asked to do a job for his team, which speaks volumes about his talent and potential.

With Jonny expected to spend the remainder of 2020 on the treatment table due to a serious knee injury, Wolves have been forced to bring in Marcal from Lyon as an immediate fix ahead of the upcoming campaign. 

However, it is worth mentioning here that Marcal is already 31 and doesn’t have any previous experience of playing in England. Despite his promising displays at Lyon, there are no guarantees that the veteran Brazilian would be able to make the step up to the highly-competitive atmosphere of the Premier League.

Plus, considering the fixture congestion in the PL next season due to the delayed start, and the challenge of having to compete on multiple fronts, there is a big question mark over whether Marcal would be able to carry his ageing legs unscathed.

Hence, with Jonny set for a long spell on the sidelines, Wolves should be smart enough to retain Vinagre for the foreseeable future as he would be a tried and tested option in the Premier League. Moreover, it wouldn’t make much sense for Nuno Santo to offload a promising youngster who has already shown strong signs of evolving into a quality player.

It’s true that Wolves ideally need to add more midfielders to their squad, with Moutinho nearing his twilight. But sacrificing Vinagre for that matter might not be the wisest idea.

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Verdict

Ruben Vinagre still has his best years ahead of him at 21 and it would be a bizarre decision for the club to sell him at this stage of his career, especially after putting in all the hard work behind his development.

The Portuguese starlet has what it takes to establish himself as a regular fixture in Wolves’ starting eleven in the years to come. Having said that, cashing in on him shouldn’t be a realistic option for the Midlands outfit this summer.