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Aston Villa’s midfield rebuild continues apace with the acquisition of Joao Gomes from Wolves. And while the Brazil international fell out of favor at Molineux, there is every reason to believe he could become a popular figure at Villa Park.
This is a great opportunity to play Champions League football for a player who deserves better than Premier League relegation. He was Wolves’ Player of the Season, having picked up the Supporters’ Award the previous year.
His managers certainly seem to like him. “He’s a great player,” former Wolves head coach Rob Edwards said earlier this year. “It was difficult for him because in a team that has struggled at times or if you don’t get results, it can be challenging.”
Earlier, Gary O’Neill explained why his team-mates now admire the 25-year-old midfielder’s approach to work. “He’s desperate to succeed but you never get the feeling it’s for himself,” O’Neill said. “You feel it’s for the team.”
But what exactly will he bring to Aston Villa?
Tackle and lots of them. Over the past three Premier League seasons, Gomes has made 380 tackles, 83 more than any other player in the competition. Once dubbed ‘The Pitbull’ his fighting style was noticed even by opposing fans.
No Premier League player has recovered possession more times than Gomes in those three seasons. This skill must have an element of positional intelligence, but most obviously it is the skillful use of his body to protect his strength and force.
Winning it was a key weapon for Wolves last season. Even in a woefully poor team, Gomes ranks among the Premier League’s top 10 players for expected goals after his interception. Its a front foot approach.
Indeed, Gomes covers the ground so well that he is far from a traditional holding midfield player. He is a happy person looking for the ball. He pressed the opposition 1,646 times last season – more than any Aston Villa player under Unai Emery.
Joao Gomes’ Defensive Workforce for Wolves in the 2025/26 Premier League Season
He can also be an impressive ball carrier, averaging around 20 carries per 90 minutes in the Premier League last season. Perhaps surprisingly, that’s more than Morgan Rodgers and more than double Amy Buendia, John McGinn and Yuri Tielemans.
As such, one wonders if this slightly chaotic style might be something Emory wants to purify rather than express. An attacking and mobile presence in Villa’s midfield would be welcome but the Villa coach prefers control. Expect Gomes to mature.
He needs to improve in other areas of his game but there is a feeling he is a player capable of doing so. For example, Gomes is rarely praised for his passing range but he is a reliable distributor of the ball and has time to develop in this regard.
Genius Sports uses a combination of tracking data and event data to calculate how many passes Premier League players have completed compared to the number they were expected to complete given the difficulty of the pass.
Gomes is one of only half a dozen players in the Premier League to exceed their expected pass completion by four percentage points in each of the last three seasons. It’s just a slight indication that with better options around him, he can develop well.
Less optimistic about Gomes’ scoring record is that he only found the net once for Wolves last season. Ironically, it came in a man-of-the-match performance against Aston Villa when he scored the opener in a 2-0 win at Molineux.
Speaking with Edwards after that game, he had a chance to ask him about Gomes. “I put a bit of pressure on him before the game when I spoke to him on the training ground before the match,” he said. Sky Sports. “I said I wanted more from him. He really stepped up.”
Joao Gomes celebrates after scoring for Wolves against Aston Villa in February
But it proved to be his final goal in a Wolves shirt, one of seven in his 116 Premier League appearances so far. At least it started with a bang. Gomes came off the bench to score the winner for 10-man Wolves at Southampton on his club debut.
Given that Tielemans, despite his Europa League final heroics, didn’t actually register a single Premier League goal last season, and Villa’s top-scoring central midfielder in the competition was Ross Barkley with just three, this may not be a major priority for Emery.
But if he wants a player with a great attitude coming into his peak years, someone humble off the pitch but with a real personality, then Gomes looks a bargain. Hopefully the hard-tackling midfielder’s name will be sung at the Holt End soon.
