£27.5m Wolves player appears on club squad numbers list, amid loan exit speculation

Wolves released the official player shirt numbers earlier today – and it was interesting to note that Goncalo Guedes appeared with a new number.

The forward spent the second-half of last season on loan at Benfica, after struggling to convince at Molineux.

Guedes was permitted to head out by Julen Lopetegui, who gave him a few chances to prove himself.

But it was a very unproductive spell for Guedes due to injury.

Guedes has had two operations on his knee, the second of which he is still recovering from.

Interestingly, Guedes was seen in a recent video Wolves uploaded to their YouTube channel.

And now, Guedes has appeared on the club’s squad numbers list…

Goncalo Guedes appears on Wolves squad list with new number

This morning, Wolves published their list of squad player numbers for 2023/24.

The number four and the number nine shirts are both vacant following the departures of Nathan Collins and Raul Jimenez.

Joao Gomes has taken the number eight shirt previously worn by Ruben Neves.

Joe Hodge has moved to the number 32 shirt.

And Hugo Bueno has come down from 64 to 17, which Guedes had before he left on loan in January.

As a result of Bueno taking 17, Guedes has now taken number 30.

But the most interesting thing is that Guedes appears on the list at all.

Because it has previously been reported that the 26-year-old was set to join Benfica for another loan spell.

But that was before Julen Lopetgui left the club.

It might be just procedure

This may not point to Guedes staying at Wolves for 2023/24.

It could well just be a case of including him on the list because the £27.5 million man is a Wolves player who hasn’t yet made his move to Benfica.

Having said that, Bruno Jordao, who is another player who spent last season away from Wolves and is now back at the club, does not appear on the squad list. As if to suggest that he could be on his way again.

It remains to be seen what will happen with Guedes.

But it would be a major surprise if he was reintegrated into the squad by new manager Gary O’Neil.

If he somehow does stay, then he’s got a huge task on his hands to convince Wolves fans of his worth.