By OkayGoal 
Joao Gomes has identified Liverpool as his preferred destination ahead of a summer exit from Wolves, according to Brazilian outlet RTI Esporte, with the 25-year-old Brazil international set to leave Molineux following what looks increasingly certain to be relegation from the Premier League.
Chelsea and Manchester United are also in the race, and Napoli and Atletico Madrid have registered interest, but the report is clear that Gomes’ priority is to remain in English football and that Liverpool is the club he wants. “Liverpool has emerged as a destination that appeals to Joao Gomes, who has reportedly already expressed interest in playing for the club,” the report states. Liverpool have been tracking Gomes since his Copa Libertadores-winning days at Flamengo in 2022 and the mutual interest is not new.
What Wolves are asking and where the fee could land
Wolves signed Gomes from Flamengo in January 2023, handed him a new five-year deal in April 2025 with an option, and have no release clause. Their opening valuation is £60m, but RTI Esporte reports that a more flexible approach is emerging given the circumstances. “The trend is towards a more flexible approach to the transaction,” the report reads, with a negotiated fee expected to land somewhere between £40m and £45m if relegation is confirmed and the player pushes to leave. That trajectory makes Gomes considerably more attainable than his headline price tag suggests.
Why Joao Gomes fits what Liverpool need this summer
The case for Liverpool needing midfield reinforcement is not difficult to make. Arne Slot has been rotating the same group for two seasons and getting diminishing returns from parts of it. Alexis Mac Allister is a long way from his title-winning form of 2024-25. Ryan Gravenberch’s performances have not consistently justified his wages. Curtis Jones enters the final year of his contract in 2027 with no renewal currently in the works, which creates an opening in the engine room that needs addressing.
Gomes is a different profile to any of those three, which is part of the appeal. He is a high-intensity, ball-winning box-to-box midfielder who operates primarily on aggression, ground duels and pressing disruption rather than technical tempo-setting. His nickname at previous clubs has been “pitbull,” which gives an accurate impression of how he approaches the game. He covers enormous distances, breaks up opposition build-up effectively and recycles possession safely without trying to do too much.
In a Slot system that already has intelligent passers and creative movers, adding that pure competitive quality in the midfield press could be exactly what is needed to carry Liverpool’s intensity through a second consecutive Premier League title challenge.
The World Cup this summer will also serve as a shop window for Gomes and could push his value upward before any deal is done, giving Wolves reason to move quickly rather than wait. For Liverpool, the combination of player preference and a negotiable fee makes this one of the more straightforward summer targets on paper, assuming the football logic holds once the financial details are worked through.
