Wolves looked to sign Carlos Vinicius three times before he moved to Tottenham
Carlos Vinicius has been a long-term target of Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Nuno’s side attemped to sign the Brazilian forward on three separate occasions over the last 15 months.
But with the 25-year old striker now joining Tottenham, Wolves are to miss out on signing the Benfica star, who had a stellar debut campaign in Lisbon last season.
Wolves first attempted to sign Vinicius before he moved to Benfica in the 2019 summer window, coming close to bringing him in from Napoli for a fee in the region of 15 million euros - but the move was unable to go through after the Brazilian failed to get a work permit.
This was due to the fact that Vinicius lacked top-level experience at both club and national level, having never represented the Brazil national team.
Wolves’ failed approach opened the door for Benfica, who went on to sign him in that same summer for the same fee - and he went on to score 24 goals - and assist a further 13 - in 47 outings across all competitions.
In fact, he averaged a direct goal contribution every 70 minutes, having primarily been used as a supersub in his early days at the club, frequently scoring off the bench.
Having shown such form, Wolves again made an approach to sign him in January 2020, making a big-money proposal to try and prise him away from Benfica, but at that time the Lisbon club were unwilling to sell him for any less than his monstrous release clause of 100 million euros, with Joao Felix’s high-profile sale to Atletico Madrid for 120 million still fresh in the mind.
Benfica, with the benefit of seeing what the future held, may have responded differently to that offer, but the belief was that Vinicius could go on to sell for a 9-figure fee, so Wolves were turned down.
However, Wolves remained undeterred, and before they completed the signing of Fabio Silva for 40 million euros earlier this summer, were still closely tracking Carlos Vinicius and were again looking into the possibility of signing him. In fact, according to TVI24, Wolves even made another offer for Vinicius, this time of 45 million euros, only a month ago, marking a third approach for the Brazilian.
At that time, though, Benfica were still holding out for 60 million euros for the player - less than before, but still a significant sum of money, particularly considering the economic turmoil at many clubs across the continent because of the pandemic. Wolves ended up shoping elsewhere in the end, bringing in another major club target in Fabio Silva for just 40 million euros.
It was only after Benfica failed to qualify for the Champions League group stage that they reduced their asking price, allowing him to be made available for 45 million euros. By this time, Wolves already bought Silva, so there was no need to even consider a move for Vinicius, and long-time admirers Jose Mourinho and Spurs managed to capitalise.
That Wolves did not make a move for Vinicius makes it clear that they are very confident that Raul Jimenez will remain at the club until at least the end of the current season, while Sliva may have also been their priority signing this summer.
