“He’s Nuno Santo’s man, he’s better than Zidane.”

The chant that Wolves fans have devised for Ruben Neves may be stretching it a touch, but it is a reflection of his impact in the club’s dizzying ascent over the last 12 months.

Neves is the undisputed star man at the centre of Molineux’s ‘Nuno revolution’, and a player whose talents are ideally suited for the grand stage of Saturday’s meeting with the champions, Manchester City.

“Better than Zidane? That is impossible!” Neves says, laughing as he reclines in a chair at Wolves’ training ground. “It is always good for us to hear things like that, but we have to be real. I know where I am.

“Manchester City are one of the best teams in the world and this is the game I was looking forward to the most when the fixtures came out. We are preparing ourselves to fight against them, we know it’s going to be a very difficult game but we are ready.”

Wolves were compared with Pep Guardiola’s City last season and today’s match vindicates Neves’ bold decision to swap Champions League football with his beloved Porto for the helter-skelter of the Championship.

Neves announced himself in the Premier League with a stunning free-kick against Everton credit: GETTY IMAGES

His first season as Wolves’ record signing was a resounding success, with the Portuguese midfielder arguably one of the best players to ever grace the division.

An elegant, commanding central midfielder with a wide range of passing, he is also renowned for spectacular goals; including that outrageous volley against Derby in April. After flicking up the ball from a defensive clearance 35 yards from goal, he then hit a stunning volley into the top corner.

Ever the perfectionist, even this moment of brilliance could have been improved on. “I wasn’t happy with my first touch!” he says, with another laugh. “The ball was behind me and it was difficult. I always want the ball in front of me and after that touch I thought I can’t lose it there so I had to shoot. People send me the goals on social media. The Derby one is my favourite.

There was also one at Sheffield Wednesday which I really liked.”

Neves’ impact in the Black Country has helped ambitious owners Fosun achieve phase one in their “project”, which ultimately sees Wolves transformed into Champions League contenders.

His commitment to the Old Gold was underlined this summer when he signed a new five-year contract, designed to kill off interest from a number of European heavyweights.

“We know the project of the club, they showed us this year with the signings that they are looking forward to doing very good things in the future. For many players it is the first year in the Premier League, so we have to be calm. We work on that and we will try to put Wolverhampton on another level.

Neves signed a five-year contract with Wolves this summer credit: JOHN ROBERTSON

“Honestly, I don’t look to the future. I am committed here and I want to help the club achieve very good things. We have this year to work and to put Wolves where it deserves.”

Perhaps the most striking aspect of Neves’ personality is his maturity. He only turned 21 in March but those leadership qualities and his aura of authority on the field have been evident since he captained Porto in the Champions League at the age of just 18 years and 221 days.

“I was always like that [mature], probably because of my parents. They always gave me this responsibility, to grow and learn fast,” he says.

“When I was nine my father [Jose] went to Spain to work for three years and I was in Portugal. I only saw him once a month which was difficult. I was alone with my mother and my sister, who is younger than me, so that probably helped me to be how I am.

“My parents own a sports store in Portugal and fly over when they can. My father is now going to be a coach with a Portuguese team so it will be a little bit more difficult for him to come over.”

Family is “everything” for Neves. He lives in Tettenhall, a small village just under two miles from Molineux, with fiancée Debora and Margarida, his one-year old daughter. A favourite local haunt is Aromas De Portugal, a coffee shop where he picks up supplies of pastel de natas, the custard tarts so beloved in his home country.

Neves once captained Porto at the age of just 18 credit: JOHN ROBERTSON

The presence of Nuno, his former manager at Porto, has been instructive. “He is an ambitious coach. He always wants to be better. Even if we win 4-0, in the next game he wants to be better than that. That motivates us to play well and do all the things in games.”

Neves is also in regular contact with his agent, Jorge Mendes. It was Mendes who convinced him to choose Wolves as the next stage in his career last year, a decision which has been richly rewarded.

“He always wants the best for the players that he has. He started to improve the club, put in some players that he knows has quality, and in two years we are now in the Premier League, so it is very good work.

“Everything that he says is correct. He knows football very well, more than all the players, so you have to listen. It was easy for me to say yes and fortunately we see the results now.”

Neves reflects fondly on his time in the Championship, with Wolves romping to the title with 99 points.

“One of the best things we did last year was bouncing back the next game after a bad result. We did it, always like that. It made the difference. In the Championship the key moment is Christmas time, with the four games in 12 days.

“I honestly never expected a winter like it. I knew it was going to be cold but like that? Too cold! We had a game against Burton and it was snowing. It was very difficult to play, I’ve never experienced the wind in my face like that. I played one Champions League game for Porto in Switzerland and it snowed but it wasn’t cold like that.”

The outlook for Wolves’s season remains promising, though they are without a win from their first two games. Nuno’s team will take on City this weekend, with none of the safety-first tactics which usually restrict newly promoted teams.

“Everything is possible in football, we know that and we will do our best,” says Neves. “We have very good players in the squad and a very good team. I think we all need to make the difference because if it’s only one working well the team doesn’t work well. All the players are important and we know that.”