Newcastle United have already been given major Ruben Neves transfer hint amid ‘interest’ in Wolves star

Reports that Neves, who opened the scoring for Wolves against Newcastle at Molineux in August, could be a target for the Magpies this month have grown. Here, we take a look at the latest surrounding Newcastle United’s reported interest in Neves and what he has previously said about the prospect of leaving Wolves:

The latest on Newcastle United’s interest in Neves

According to Sportsmail, Newcastle are ‘monitoring’ Neves’ situation at Wolves as the Portuguese international enters the final 18 months of his contract at Molineux. The report that Neves has been shortlisted by the Magpies, although ‘no formal contact’ has been made between the clubs.

Newcastle are reportedly interested in signing a midfielder this month, although club chiefs have urged caution over their spending as they navigate Financial Fair Play constraints. Neves can play either as a 6 sat in-front of the defence, or as a box-to-box option and has over 150 Premier League appearances under his belt.

What has Neves said about his future?

Newcastle are far from the first team to be linked with a move for the 25-year-old with Liverpool, Manchester United and Barcelona chief among the clubs to have previously been credited with an interest in the midfielder.

In August, Neves spoke to The Times about interest in him and refused to rule out the possibility of leaving Molineux: "Well, let’s see what happens.” Neves said.

“I try to focus 100 per cent on my football and I had a good start to the season but we need results now. If you ask me at the end of last season I would have said to you, 'I will leave,' but I’m still here, so we never know what’s going to happen."

Even before those comments, Neves had spoken about needing to ‘take the opportunities’ presented to him in a short playing career, telling The Athletic: "Everyone knows about what football is about, what our lives are about.

"Our careers are really short, we need to take the opportunities we have.

"Of course, all of us have dreams and we need to live those dreams in a short space of time. Let's see what happens. I cannot say too much about it."