Jamie Carragher accused of ‘tapping up’ Ruben Neves for Liverpool move
Jamie Carragher has been jokingly accused of “tapping up” Ruben Neves live on Sky Sports. The Portugal midfielder has previously been linked with a move to Liverpool among other top Premier League clubs.
Neves spoke to Sky Sports pitchside ahead of Wolves’ match at Fulham on Friday. He was interviewed by Kelly Cates, with Gary Neville and Carragher alongside.
Carragher was also caught on camera by the Wolves media team speaking to Neves as he arrived in west London. The pair shook hands and shared a joke before Neves walked away.
Later in the pre-match build-up, Cates brought up Carragher’s earlier meeting with the Wolves star. She said: “In terms of Ruben Neves, you were tapping him up earlier.”
To which Carragher replied: “No, no.” Cates made clear she was being tongue-in-cheek, responding: “We’re allowed to joke!”
Carragher said: “What goes on in the green room, stays in the green room, Kelly. We’ve all got little different avenues.”
Former Manchester United right-back Neville then had his say on Neves. He claimed the 25-year-old is good enough for any team in Europe.
Neville said: “It’s interesting that you should say about Neves, he’s been at Wolves quite a long time. I genuinely believe that Ruben Neves could go and sit in any midfield in Europe in any team in any league and be comfortable.”
Carragher insisted that’s what he spoke to Neves about. He said: “Well that’s what I asked him!”
But Neville jokingly said Carragher’s former team wouldn’t be in the picture to sign him. He said: “He just doesn’t want to sit in Liverpool’s midfield!”
Carragher has repeatedly said Liverpool need to strengthen in midfield. He claimed failure to sign a midfielder in January would see their hopes of finishing in the Premier League top four disappear.
Liverpool are one of the clubs hoping to sign Jude Bellingham in the summer. But Jurgen Klopp is likely to pursue more than one signing in the middle of the park.
Carragher is surprised Neves is still at Wolves and has no doubt he can perform at a higher level. He said: “What I would say, and I don’t want to upset Wolves fans either, if you impress at Wolves then there’s another move after that, I think that is the model and it’s worked brilliantly for Wolves.
“I thought Ruben Neves would be at Wolves for a couple of seasons and then make that move to a Champions League club. I am surprised he hasn’t made that move for whatever reason.
“He is a player you look at and think can he really make that step up and get into a top midfield and run a game from there? I’m convinced that he can.”
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