Express & Star

Wolves complete £8.4m deal for Brazilian star

Wolves have completed the signing of highly-rated teenager Pedro Lima.

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Pedro Lima (Getty)

The club agreed a £8.4million deal to sign him from Sport Recife in the Brazilian second tier after beating Chelsea to his signature.

They then waited until Monday (July 1) when Lima turned 18-years-old to complete his medical and finalise the deal for the right-back.

Lima has signed a five-year deal with the option of a further 12 months and becomes the fourth summer signing, following Tommy Doyle’s loan from Manchester City becoming permanent and the acquisitions of Portuguese wide man Rodrigo Gomes and Norwegian striker Jorgen Strand Larsen.

Pedro Lima (Getty)

Wolves’ sporting director Matt Hobbs said: “I’m really happy we’ve been able to add Pedro to the first-team squad. There was lots of competition for him, but we’ve been working on bringing him to Wolves for a while now, and he’s fully invested in our project.

“He’s a person with huge ambition, but Gary and the coaches know where he wants to get to and they will be working with him – like they do all our players – to be better and improve. He has a massive desire to be the best player he can be and we’re going to help him meet his goals.

“Through his attitude, through his work on the pitch, his work in the gym and the way he looks after himself, I expect him to be really competitive and push the players who might be ahead of him at the moment, but in Nelson (Semedo), I think there’s no better right-back for him to learn from.”

Lima played 26 times in his debut senior campaign at Sport Recife and was on the radar of several big clubs.

Born in Cabedelo, Joao Pessoa – the same city as new Wolves team-mate Matheus Cunha – Lima was selected to play for Brazil in the U17 World Cup last year, where he played all five matches, including a 2-1 win over England.