In November, Gary O’Neil declared that there was ‘no limit’ on Matheus Cunha’s potential. Not even the sky, apparently.
O’Neil, who has since been jettisoned by Wolves, also said his star was going to stay at Molineux for ‘as long as possible’. That timeline may now be measured in days.
Cunha had just scored two stunners in a 4-1 rout at Fulham. It was one of his greatest days in a Wolves shirt, up there with his hat-trick against Chelsea last season and his match-winning display against Southampton two weeks earlier.
He is the jewel in the bog of the Premier League relegation battle, the supercar in the second-hand bike shop. Could any team in the bottom five lay claim to having a better player this season? No. Only a few players in the bottom half merit comparison on current form.
It’s little surprise, then, to see the prospective buyers queueing up. Mail Sport revealed on Tuesday that Nottingham Forest have made Cunha their top target. That would go down well in the Midlands, wouldn’t it? Just ask Morgan Gibbs-White.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Newcastle, and Tottenham are also linked with him. Meanwhile, Wolves are scrambling to secure him on a new deal and keep him away from the clutches of the elite. Their upturn under Vitor Pereira could prove persuasive.
Matheus Cunha is the Premier League’s most wanted man – but Wolves are trying to keep him
Mail Sport revealed how Nottingham Forest have made Cunha their top target this month
Wolves are negotiating new terms with him, although manager Vitor Pereira criticised his attitude after the defeat by Chelsea on Monday
But keeping hold of Cunha could be like to trying to stop him when he gets on the ball – nigh on impossible. He is the Premier League’s most wanted man, and for good reason.
He’s already on 10 goals for the season and has four assists to boot. If he wasn’t playing for a team so often picking the ball out of their net, those tallies could easily be higher.
Cunha is a livewire, an active player who always looks to set a game alight. Don’t take it from me – take it from Opta’s stats. At Wolves, he is the man with the most goals, joint-most assists, most dribbles completed (39), most chances created from open play (27), most touches in the opposition box (90), and joint-most times winning the ball in the final third (16).
For most of those metrics, he ranks in the high echelons against peers in his position across the league.
Crucially, only seven men have scored more than him. He is level with Ollie Watkins and Justin Kluivert, both stars competing for European football.
It wasn’t always like this. Wolves almost had cause to regret making Cunha their record signing in 2022-23.
They had brought him in initially on loan from Atletico Madrid but with an obligation to buy for £43million. In that first half-season, across 20 games, he produced a grand total of two goals. Not the dictionary definition of value for money.
How he has repaid them since. His haul of 14 goals last season was the best tally of any Wolves star since Raul Jimenez’s 27 in 2019-20. It looks far-fetched now, but at one point last campaign it looked as if he would drive them to the top half.
Pereira suggested that Cunha’s body language and application were not up to scratch against Chelsea
Gary O’Neil declared that there was ‘no limit’ on Cunha’s potential after he scored two against Fulham
The good thing for Wolves is that they do not have to sell him, not unless he takes inspiration from Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez and refuses to play. In any case, the only game he can refuse before Deadline Day is against suitors Arsenal, and that wouldn’t make a great impression.
Cunha’s contract runs until 2027, which gives the Molineux side a strong hand around the negotiating table.
But there are some frustrations rippling around the 25-year-old, with some questioning his attitude over the past few days. One of those was the man who writes his name on the teamsheet every week.
After their 3-1 defeat by Chelsea on Monday, Pereira blasted: ‘I had this conversation in the dressing room. He can be frustrated because he wants to win, but everybody in the team wants to win.
‘I don’t like this body language. I want someone as a captain trying to help the team – running, suffering, fighting together. This is something I can understand. Next time, I will not understand.’
Liam Keen, a Wolves correspondent for Wolverhampton-based news outlet the Express & Star, claimed that Cunha walked down the tunnel immediately at full time without acknowledging the away support at Stamford Bridge.
Pereira added in his press conference that such behaviour ‘cannot happen again,’ but Cunha defended himself in a furious statement on social media.
‘Liar,’ the Brazilian wrote. ‘I went to applaud them, congratulated the referees and the opposing players.
Nuno Espirito Santo wants to strengthen Nottingham Forest’s Champions League push by bringing Cunha onboard
‘Then I went to the tunnel. Don’t ever come and ask me to give you an interview again.’
It would be an explosive note on which to leave the club that brought him to the Premier League.
All transfers involve an element of risk. You’re guaranteed 20-goal-a-season striker is never, in fact, guaranteed to score that many. A club could sign Cunha and he could be the best thing that has ever happened to them, or nothing near that.
It will be interesting to see how long Cunha can replicate his form, and whether he can translate it to a top club.
As per Opta, his expected goals for this season is 4.6 – less than half the 10 he has scored.
Some would suggest that means his finishing is phenomenal. Others would call it luck.
And transitioning from being the star of the show to just another talented player in a squad full of 20 talented stars is not easy.
Perhaps Forest, where he would be immensely valued and still at an underdog team under Nuno Espirito Santo, would get more out of him than joining Arsenal, where a starting place would be less of a guarantee.
