The Brazilian is leading a new generation of Samba stars at Molineux and has provided hope of a brighter future for the club. After joining from Atletico Madrid and announced by Wolves on Christmas Day 2022, he is the gift that keeps on giving.
The €50m forward will face Bournemouth today in the best form of his career after another stunning performance in the demolition of Fulham last Saturday. The statistics are remarkable: he has been involved in 26 goals in his past 29 Premier League starts (17 goals, nine assists).
Wolves are set to reward Cunha by initiating talks over improved terms for their own version of Cole Palmer and, while the club insist there is no chance of him being sold in the January transfer window, it does seem inevitable that Wolves will face pressure from heavyweight clubs in the summer.
However, Wolves are well aware that an acceptable transfer fee will have to obliterate the previous record sale of €63m, from Matheus Nunes’s departure to Manchester City last year.
Cunha is a gifted maverick who makes the game look so easy. The 25-year-old is not a traditional No 9, but an attacker who drops deep into problem areas and can play all across the front three. That unpredictability with his position makes him a nightmare for opponents.
A keen learner in tune with data and analytics, he is close with head coach Gary O’Neil and always on the hunt for knowledge, particularly on his work off the ball.
And he has arguably saved O’Neil from some uncomfortable moments this month. Before the international break, Cunha produced a sublime pass for Pablo Sarabia’s opener against Southampton before crashing in the second goal from 30 yards.
Despite his sparkling form, Cunha has not appeared for the Brazil national team since a 2-0 defeat by Uruguay in a World Cup qualifier last October. The door is understood to remain open, and Cunha retains hope of playing alongside two of his Wolves teammates at international level in the near future too.
Playing behind Cunha at Craven Cottage were two fellow Brazilians, Joao Gomes and Andre, whom Wolves believe will also be crucial this season.
Gomes (23) is known as the ‘Pitbull’, an aggressive defensive midfielder coveted by a number of rival clubs. He contributed the second goal in the 4-1 rout of Fulham and remains one of the club’s triumphs of recent recruitment, at just €14m from Flamengo.
Alongside Gomes is Andre, an €22m capture from Fluminense this summer. The 23-year-old returned to the team against Fulham after spending time on the bench and Wolves instantly appeared more controlled in the middle as a four as opposed to a three.
Andre offered early notice of his quality on his Premier League debut against Newcastle United, with 100pc accuracy from 40 passes.
Wolves' Matheus Cunha is tackled by Southampton's Taylor Harwood-Bellis during their Premier League clash earlier this month. Photo: Getty
The Wolves-Brazil connection does not end there. There are high hopes for Pedro Lima, an 18-year old defender signed in June ahead of fierce competition from Chelsea.
Lima is predominantly a right-back and is seen as the long-term successor to Portugal international Nelson Semedo, who is expected to leave at the end of this season as a free agent.
Wolves’ success in the Brazilian market has been driven by sporting director Matt Hobbs. He works closely with head of scouting Ben Wrigglesworth, senior recruitment lead Elliot Sutcliffe and head of football development Matt Jackson in the drive to discover unpolished gems from that country.
It helps that the dressing room has a high number of Spanish and Portuguese speakers already.
Since Brexit, the FA has made the recruitment of players from South America easier to attain with governing body endorsement (GBE) points, and Wolves are exploiting it well.
“Before Brexit, the Brazilian market was harder but now everyone is shopping there and it’s much more expensive,” Hobbs said. “We paid £12m (€14) for Joao Gomes \[in January 2023\] and if we’d have done that this summer it would have been double the price at least.
“It’s about finding the right player and personality. How they are going to fit into our culture is so important. There’s lots of players in Brazil who are really talented who wouldn’t fit into what we’re trying to do.”
Wolves’ recruitment team usually watch targets in blocks of matches on video, but Hobbs admits there is still nothing better than actually travelling to watch a player perform live.
“It’s so important for us to get it right. We can’t afford to make too many mistakes as we have to be really careful with our investment and what it looks like,” he says. “Probably over the years the few mistakes I’ve made have been when I’ve not been to see a player with my own eyes.”
Wolves are not out of the woods yet, but the boys from Brazil are playing a huge role in helping salvage their season.