Wolves' most expensive summer transfer signings ever - including £44m talisman and £35m flop

Wolverhampton Wanderers will begin their eighth successive season in the Premier League in August, after a period of consolidation in the top flight which begun under Nuno Espirito Santo and has led all the way to Vitor Pereira’s spell as manager in the present day.

Expert buys, notoriously from Portugal and Brazil, have littered Wolves’ time back in the Premier League, with many players signed for potential and sold for significantly bigger sums of money - a trend which has continued this summer with the sales of Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri to the Manchester clubs.

While their top sales have undoubtedly been bigger, Wanderers have also brought in their fair share of big-money signings over recent years. We decided to take a trip down memory lane to find out who Wolves have spent the most money to bring in and how well they did during their time at the club.

5) Nelson Semedo - £27.5m (2020)

A big-name signing for a Wolves team who were European challengers at the time, right-back or wing-back Nelson Semedo signed from Barcelona in summer 2020. Known to be blessed with blistering pace, Semedo became loved by fans and has been a near ever-present in his five seasons with the club.

Now 31 years old and the club captain, Semedo has just this week become officially out of contract as he has stalled and delayed over signing a new deal. With it looking increasingly likely that such a key man of Pereira’s squad will no longer be with the Old Gold next season, it is a worrying end to what has otherwise been a successful chapter for Semedo at the club. He has made 182 appearances for Wolves, significantly more than he has for any other club in his career, and for any big-money signing to eventually become club captain proves that it was money well spent.

4) Raul Jimenez - £32m (2019)

One of the most iconic figures of Wolves’ time in the Premier League, Raul Jimenez was initially signed on loan from Benfica just after promotion to the top flight in summer 2018, a deal which was made permanent for £32m the following summer.

In his prime at Molineux, Jimenez was unstoppable. He scored 30 Premier League goals in two seasons, including 17 in 2019-20, as Wolves finished 7th for two successive seasons and reached the Europa League quarter-finals. A tragic skull fracture put an end to his 2020-21 season in November, and his Molineux career was never the same after that day.

While he did return for the 2021/22 season, he only scored six league goals that year, then zero in 15 appearances the following season. Eventually in summer 2023, Jimenez decided it was time to move on and signed for Fulham for £5.5m. He has since found his feet again, with 12 Premier League goals last campaign, and remains a name remembered fondly by Wolves fans. Certainly money well spent, too, even if just for those two memorable seasons alone.

3) Fabio Silva - £35m (2020)

Without a doubt the biggest disappointment on this list, Wolves fans would be forgiven for forgetting Fabio Silva is still on the books at the club at this point. Signed as an 18-year-old forward with a big reputation, £35m Silva scored a measly four Premier League goals in his first season and this would be the best seen of him to date in a Wolves shirt.

He scored zero goals the following season, before a series of loan spells have taken him to Anderlecht, PSV Eindhoven, Rangers and, most recently, Las Palmas in La Liga. He has proven that he still has ability, scoring 10 La Liga goals in 24 appearances last campaign after a combined 23 goals in his previous two seasons.

With one year left on his contract at Molineux, Silva is reportedly the subject of interest from major European clubs such as Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig. Reintegration into the Wolves squad looks unlikely, so the club should try to get as much money as they can to make up for this big-money transfer failure.

2) Matheus Nunes - £38m (2022)

Matheus Nunes may not have had the most glittering Molineux career, but there is no doubt that Wolves did a terrific bit of business on him. Signed from Sporting CP for a club-record £38m in summer 2022, midfielder Nunes overtook international compatriot Silva to top the list at the time.

He would spend just a single season in Wolverhampton, registering just one goal and one assist - though his solitary goal was a very special one, on the volley, to defeat Chelsea at Molineux. Manchester City became strongly interested in Nunes the following summer, a move the player was so keen to make that he skipped training in an attempt to push through a move.

Eventually, right at the end of the transfer window on 30 August 2023, a £53m bid for Nunes was accepted. Wolves had made a quiet £15m profit on Nunes in just a season - not only that, he went from being the club’s biggest signing to their biggest sale. A sour taste in the mouth of Wolves fans left by his departure, but great business.

1) Matheus Cunha - £44m (2023)

Who else could it be? The man who replaced Nunes as both Wolves’ most expensive signing and now their most expensive sale, Matheus Cunha may have departed but he will certainly be remembered as a man who lit up Molineux.

The Brazilian international arrived from Atlético Madrid two summers ago for £44m, after a loan move for the latter part of the previous season. Despite making 12 Champions League appearances in spells with Atlético and RB Leipzig, Cunha evidently wanted to become the main man in the Premier League, and that he became.

After scoring an impressive 12 league goals in his first season, Cunha came into his own in 2024/25. With 15 Premier League goals, the 26-year-old often stole the headlines and at one stage had a goal of the month competition against himself. Cunha’s impressive season culminated in him winning Players’ Player of the Season at Wolves, before completing a £62.5m move to Manchester United.