Why Matheus Nunes was left out of Wolves squad amid Man City interest as transfer admission made

Manchester City want to sign Wolves midfielder Matheus Nunes before Friday’s transfer deadline, with the Portuguese not training with his side in recent days.

Wolves expect Matheus Nunes to remain at the club beyond this week’s transfer deadline, despite Manchester City’s attempts to sign him.

City would like to sign the midfielder towards the end of the transfer window and have until Friday 23:00 to finalize the transfer.

Following the injury of Kevin De Bruyne and the departure of Ilkay Gundogan, the Blues are looking for an additional midfielder and have made Nunes an option after rejecting an initial £47million offer last week.

In response, Nunes did not train with Wolves and has been unavailable for the last two games as the Midlands club pushed for a £60m price tag.

However, after Wolves beat Blackpool in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday, Gary O’Neil gave an update and said he expects his midfielder to stay at Molineux and not join City.

“After the bid from Manchester City he decided it was best for him to not be with the group,” O’Neil explained to BBC Sport. “It’s club policy, and how we deal with things like that is set in place.”

Continuing, O’Neil outlined plans to reintegrate Nunes into the Wolves squad and said there had been no improved bid as of Tuesday from City.

“As far as I’m aware there’s been no improved bid,” he said. “Matheus Nunes is still our player, we have a long contract still with him and at this moment I fully expect him to be here come September 2.

“The next few days will be key of course and conversations will take place that will be private between me and Matheus and I’m sure the situation will be resolved.”