Romain Saiss confirms Wolves exit with club 'realistic' over Ruben Neves future
Technical director Scott Sellars has admitted Wolves must be realistic about their chances of keeping Ruben Neves as Romain Saiss’ Molineux exit was confirmed.
The Morocco international was expected to depart after failing to reach agreement over a new deal.
He posted a message yesterday on Instagram which read: “The moment I feared the most has come. The moment to say goodbye to you after 6 wonderful years with you.
“It was an honour and a privilege to wear these colours and to contribute to the success and renewal of this club.
“I have met exceptional people over these six years, always looking out for me and my family. Thank you Wolves. I’ll be a Wolf forever.”
Saiss made a total of 206 appearances in all competitions and was a key member of the defence which helped consolidate Wolves back in the Premier League following promotion in 2018.
While his departure was anticipated, Neves’ future is less certain. Wolves have been in talks with the influential midfielder over a new deal but Sellars, speaking during a wide-ranging interview with club media, acknowledged there will likely be approaches from other clubs for his services.
Arsenal and Barcelona are thought to be among Neves’ suitors and Sellars said: “The ideal situation is we want him to stay, and I’ve spoken to him about it.
“But I’m also realistic that when you’ve got an outstanding player then the top clubs are going to come and try to see what the situation is. Again, it will be discussed, and what’s right for the club, and will certainly be something we’ll look at.”
The future of Adama Traore is also high on Wolves’ agenda with the winger returning to the club after an underwhelming loan spell at Barcelona. Traore has just one year left on his contract and has previously declined the offer of a new one.
Sellars, meanwhile, claimed Wolves’ recruitment would likely focus on “one or two key positions” as they look to improve on this term’s 10th-placed finish.
He explained: “As I’ve always said, to find players that are better than the players we’ve got is never that easy, so we’ll be speaking with the manager, speaking as a staff and saying: ‘Ok, we want to progress next season, can we get into the top six, what do we need to do to get into there?’
“It’s not always about buying 20 players but maybe looking at one or two key positions we want to do something with.”
