As Wolves have recently become a team that values their assets highly and then tends to sell their biggest names in the transfer windows, 2024 has marked an impressive run of form for Matheus Cunha at the club.
So, how important is the Brazilian to their Premier League future?
So, how important is the Brazilian to their Premier League future?
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00:00So, Charles, looking at Mateus Cunha of Wolverhampton Wonders, I mean, what a player, what a signing
00:08he's been. Let's be honest, Wolves have not been great this season, it's fair to say.
00:12Certainly the shining light of Wolves' team under Gary O'Neill at the moment is Mateus
00:16Cunha. Of course, the quality, some of the finishes he managed to put in as well were
00:21just unbelievable. I mean, just how important is a player like that to Wolves at the moment?
00:27You have other parts of the team where the quality is not really there, I think it has
00:31to be said, and Gary O'Neill can only get so much out of some of those players,
00:37but then you've got that one sort of talisman who's sort of dragging the rest of the team
00:40along with him. If anything, it does actually boost morale a little bit, the fact that you've
00:44got someone as good as him. Obviously, you've got January coming up and you don't want to
00:47lose a player like that, but just how important in the here and now is he, and if he is to stay
00:52for the rest of the season, can he be the one who makes sure Wolves do not go down just on his own?
00:59Yeah, I think the simple answer to that is probably yes. I mean, you look at a number
01:03of sides who've escaped that relegation fight over a number of years and they do always tend
01:09to have a top player who's just outshining the rest and producing some incredible moments to
01:14just help them dig out. But I mean, with Cunha, it starts from the sort of back end of last season,
01:20actually, when he was so, so good and he went on an amazing streak after returning from injury
01:26and he came back into the Wolves' side and he was so, so strong at performances. Gary O'Neill has
01:33been vocal in saying he's played a decent part in where Cunha's got to. Wolves fans,
01:40after the start to the Premier League season, might be a bit critical on Gary O'Neill,
01:44but in all fairness to him, he has certainly got the best out of Cunha,
01:48given him that space and freedom in the ten role. I mean, 2024 has been an incredible year
01:54for Mateus Cunha. Maybe not so for Wolves, they missed out on a Wembley trip against Coventry at
02:00Molyneux, where that sort of spiralled down the back end of last season. They started this season
02:05fairly poorly as well with a tough run of games and they just were really struggling to find
02:11any points, really. But Mateus Cunha has been a certain shining light throughout 2024.
02:16And yeah, you know, January coming up, it's a massive moment for Wolves to really ensure that
02:22anything that comes in for him, they keep him at the club. It's been so important. Obviously,
02:28Gary O'Neill has been speaking so much about how Wolves haven't been able to buy a striker,
02:33profit and sustainability rules. We've seen how that's impacted lots of forests and Everton,
02:36so Wolves had to stick in line and Cunha stepped up into a striker position that he's not full
02:41number nine, really. He's more of a false nine or a winger or someone who can come in from wide.
02:46He's not always been that figure. He's not a physical presence. But the way he uses his body,
02:51he backs into defenders, he turns off the ball, he plays one-twos, he dribbles the players,
02:56and he's been so crucial.