Wolves taunted Premier League rivals Chelsea in a video announcing the signing of Brazilian star Pedro Lima.
The 18-year-old, who Chelsea also targeted, has signed a five-year deal at Molineux with an option of a further year.
Wolves have spent around £8.5m to sign the highly-rated teenager after he made 26 appearances for Palmeiras in his first senior season.
Lima impressed for Brazil’s youth team at last year’s U17 World Cup, featuring in all five of the country’s games.
Wolves posted a video on X to confirm Lima’s arrival in which the viewer steps into ‘agent’ Matheus Cunha’s office and watches him finalise the transfer while laughing at a story suggesting Chelsea had already agreed a deal.
The Brazilian then enters the room and signs his new contract with Wolves, who have said they are ‘really happy’ to welcome him to Molineux.
The club’s sporting director Matt Hobbs said in a statement: ‘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, I think there’s no better right-back for him to learn from.’
Lima becomes Wolves’ fourth signing of the summer following Tommy Doyle’s loan from Manchester City becoming permanent and the acquisitions of Portuguese winger Rodrigo Gomes and Norwegian striker Jorgen Strand Larsen.
Hobbs confirmed Lima ultimately decided to join Wolves instead of Chelsea, adding: ‘He made a big decision in deciding to come to us over Chelsea and for a 17-year-old boy to make that decision shows a real sign of strength.
‘But he’s all about football, so he’s just excited to get going and meet all the boys when they’re back later this week. It’s nice to have new signings done before pre-season training starts.
‘It’s one we’ve worked on a while now and he was always a player we wanted to bring in this window. That was always the plan, but we thought it might have been later in the window.
‘But when Chelsea became involved and had agreed with Recife, it was a case of having a day to get it done, and thankfully Jeff was really supportive and we were able to do it.
‘There was lots of competition, and I don’t mean this in an arrogant way at all, but had we been able to do it straight away, then there wouldn’t have been any competition.
‘We are a club that sells our project through pathway, opportunity and connection, while other clubs use different tools like location, size and money. Luckily what appeals to Pedro is who and what we are.’
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Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
