Rodrigo Gomes became an official Wolves player earlier this week, and ahead of his first experience of English football, wolves.co.uk explores the Portuguese’s footballing background and what caught the eye of the club’s recruitment department.
Profile
- Name: Rodrigo Gomes
- Date of birth: 7th July 2003
- Position: Winger/full-back
- Nationality: Portuguese
- Clubs: SC Braga, Estoril (loan)
- Appearances: 107
- Goals: 21
- Assists: 10
Background
Following in the footsteps of Pedro Neto – three years his senior – Rodrigo Gomes progressed through the SC Braga youth system. Born in Povoa de Varzim, just a 35-minute drive from Neto’s childhood home, Gomes began with CB Povoa Lanhoso and other local clubs, before linking up with Braga at the age of 11, one year after Neto joined the club. Having stepped up each age group and made his senior debut in October 2020.
Scouting
Wolves already had their eye on the promising youngster by the time he made his Braga debut, however. The club’s wide network of scouts first cast an eye on Gomes in the May of 2020, in an under-17 match against Germany which Portugal won 2-0. During that game he played on both wings – a trend of his career to date – and received a positive scouting report. That game began Wolves’ lengthy research into the youngster, who continued to catch the eye whenever Old Gold staff attended his matches or watched via video. The player Gomes has become marries up to many of those early reports – an extremely determined player, on and off the pitch.
By the end of the 2021/22 season, Wolves stepped up their scouting intently. Typical for a wide man of his tender years, Gomes had been regularly rotated during the campaign, like Neto at his age, but got his teeth stuck into the Europa League. However, his move to Estoril fully triggered the Old Gold’s recruitment team, and his performances on loan saw him placed on the radars of clubs across Europe. Each Wolves scout, whether they watched him on video or live, were impressed with what they saw from Gomes. Then, O’Neil’s prior knowledge of the player made it a straightforward decision for all parties.
Rodrigo x 4️⃣ 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/pak1UoG1gi
— Wolves (@Wolves) June 13, 2024
Playing style
The key words used to describe Gomes are work rate, intensity and speed – Wolves scouts enjoyed his direct nature. Gomes can play on either side, so brings versatility to the table and is a humble character, which is a key personality trait of the culture being built at Compton Park.
It wasn’t uncommon to see Gomes running the whole length of the pitch when Estoril were winning in the 90th minute. Some players that wouldn’t do that, but he’s got desire and hunger. Comparisons are made to Neto, with his arched back running style and powerful running to get past defenders at full speed, but right footed.
The numbers
Last season, Gomes was top for assists in the Portuguese top flight for an under-21 player and came out top for dribbles attempted, also for under-21s. Overall in Liga Portugal, Gomes ranked high for pressures, while he was in the top one per cent of players for speed and work rate, fitting O’Neil’s ethos.
Despite playing four different positions for a substantial amount of time each, the wide man still impressed with his numbers, scoring nine goals and providing eight assists, which is particularly impressive considering he was at a new club on loan.
