Carlos Forbs’ Revival at Club Brugge: The One That Got Away for Wolves?
The summer of 2025 will likely go down as one of the most turbulent and divisive transfer windows in Wolverhampton Wanderers’ recent history. A summer that began with anxiety over possible exits soon descended into what now feels, in hindsight, like a mass exodus — a dismantling of the club’s core, sprinkled with questionable recruitment and a seeming over-reliance on hope and potential rather than proven quality.
From the outside, it may have looked like a calculated rebuild. A necessary reshaping of a squad that had perhaps plateaued. But from the inside — and particularly among fans — it feels more like Wolves have taken one step too far into the unknown. And amidst all the major headlines involving the likes of Matheus Cunha, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Max Kilman, and Pablo Sarabia, there was one departure that barely raised a whisper at the time — but is now making plenty of noise elsewhere:
Carlos Forbs.
The 20-year-old winger was allowed to leave the club permanently after a forgettable loan spell — and since signing for Club Brugge this past summer, he has started to show the very kind of potential that Wolves never managed to unlock. It’s early days, of course, but Forbs’ resurgence already poses uncomfortable questions about the direction Wolves are heading — and whether the club may have just let another gem slip through their fingers.
A Frustrating Spell at Molineux
Carlos Forbs joined Wolves in the summer of 2024 on a season-long loan from Ajax, with high hopes and even higher expectations. He had been a standout in Ajax’s youth system, and his time at Manchester City’s academy before that hinted at elite potential.
He was billed as a like-for-like stylistic replacement for Pedro Neto — a rapid, tricky winger with the ability to take on defenders, stretch defences, and contribute goals and assists from wide areas. But for whatever reason, it simply never clicked at Wolves.
Forbs ended the 2024–25 season with just 11 appearances in all competitions — almost all of them from the bench — and logged only 260 minutes of first-team football. No goals, no assists, and very little impact on the pitch.
It wasn’t that he didn’t have the talent — but as manager Vitor Pereira explained at the time, it was a matter of tactical incompatibility. In a brutally honest assessment, Pereira said:
“He’s a winger, one against one. To do what I want in this system is difficult for him when we are defending. He doesn’t have the skill to go and come back to defend… he’s strong one against one, he’s very fast. But in my system, he cannot play inside in between the lines because he doesn’t have these skills. And to play outside is a different profile of player.”
In essence, Forbs was a victim of the system — and Wolves made no serious effort to bring him in permanently once the season ended. His purchase option, reportedly around £11 million, was deemed too high for a player who had contributed so little.
That decision, made quietly in the background of far bigger moves, now looks like it could come back to haunt the club.
A New Start in Belgium
Fast-forward just a few months, and Forbs is now enjoying what Belgian outlet Le Soir described as an “explosive” and “hard-hitting” start to life with Club Brugge — one of Belgium’s top sides, and a regular presence in European competitions.
Brugge saw something Wolves didn’t — or couldn’t make use of. And under a system that allows him to express himself more freely as a classic wide player, Forbs has flourished.
His stats so far:
12 appearances (all competitions)
2 goals
3 assists
Several standout performances in the Belgian Pro League and UEFA Europa Conference League qualifiers
A highlight-reel goal against Westerlo — a stunning strike from outside the box in a thrilling 5–5 draw
It’s not just the numbers. It’s the way he’s playing. He’s confident, aggressive, and direct. He’s getting on the ball more, beating defenders consistently, and offering exactly the kind of threat Wolves have lacked in wide areas since Pedro Neto’s form and fitness declined.
And he’s only 20 years old.
The Wolves Winger Conundrum
Wolves’ winger situation has been in flux for years. Since the departure of Diogo Jota, and amid the recurring injury problems of Pedro Neto and the inconsistency of Hwang Hee-chan, the club has failed to establish a consistent attacking presence out wide.
Forbs was brought in with the hope that he might be part of the solution. And he might have been — under a different manager, in a different setup.
But Vitor Pereira’s system requires more from wide players — not just in attack, but in structure, in pressing, in positioning. It’s a modern, compact system where individual flair is often sacrificed for tactical discipline. In that environment, Forbs was never going to thrive.
The irony is that Wolves could now desperately use a player with his profile — a direct, one-vs-one winger capable of injecting unpredictability and pace into the attack. Instead, that player is now lighting up Belgium and adding value to Club Brugge, while Wolves rely on newer, less proven options that may take time to develop — if they develop at all.
A Growing Pattern of Regret
If this were a one-off, perhaps Wolves could shrug it off. Not every young player makes the grade in their first loan. But Forbs’ resurgence fits a worrying pattern of missed opportunities and underutilised talent at Wolves.
Other examples include:
Diogo Jota — sold for £45 million, now a key player for Liverpool
Morgan Gibbs-White — never truly trusted at Molineux, now excelling at Nottingham Forest
Conor Coady — a leader let go during a system change, now playing well in the Championship
Adama Traoré — another raw but talented wide player, allowed to drift in and out of favour
It raises questions about Wolves’ ability to manage squad development, especially when it comes to young or tactically specific players. Forbs was never going to fit into a rigid structure — but that doesn’t mean he lacked value.
In fact, at £11 million, he now looks like a potential bargain for Brugge — especially if he continues on this trajectory and draws interest from bigger clubs in Europe, which feels more and more likely with each passing week.
The Bigger Picture — Wolves’ Risky Summer Strategy
The Forbs story can’t be fully understood without looking at the 2025 summer window as a whole.
Wolves didn’t just lose Forbs. They allowed a host of Premier League-proven players to depart:
Matheus Cunha (sold to a top-six club)
Rayan Ait-Nouri (gone to France)
Max Kilman (joined West Ham)
Pablo Sarabia (moved to La Liga)
Nelson Semedo (contract not renewed)
Several fringe players and loanees were also moved on
And in their place? A mix of young, unproven prospects, low-fee transfers from lesser-known leagues, and a couple of loan gambles. There is talent in the group, certainly, but whether there’s enough Premier League readiness is very much in question.
At the time, fans were promised that Wolves were “streamlining the squad for the future” — but the early months of the 2025–26 season have suggested they may have gone too far, too quickly. The team looks disjointed. The goals have dried up. And there’s a palpable lack of cohesion in attack.
How different might things have looked if someone like Forbs had been retained, nurtured, and developed in a more suitable system?
Final Thoughts: A Warning Sign — and a Missed Opportunity
Carlos Forbs may not become a world-beater. But the signs suggest he’s at the very least a high-level winger in the making — one with the kind of attributes that can change games, attract suitors, and significantly increase in market value.
Wolves let him go because he didn’t fit the system — fair enough. But perhaps the bigger question is: should the system be more flexible to accommodate players like Forbs in the first place?
Because right now, the club finds itself short on attacking spark, short on flair, and short on results — while Forbs is thriving elsewhere. It’s a story that feels all too familiar.
If Wolves’ new signings fail to deliver and the team struggles to stay competitive, Carlos Forbs’ name may become symbolic of a summer where Wolves not only lost key players — but lost sight of how to use the ones they had.