Wolverhampton Wanderers are in a good place under the shrewd leadership of Vitor Pereira.
With another Premier League campaign to look forward to, the onus is on the manager to take the Old Gold back into the top half of the table.
This task will be made much more difficult by the fact he will be without the services of both Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri next term.
rayan-ait-nouri-wolves
Ait-Nouri looks set to join Manchester City, with Wolves pocketing a fee of around £33.7m in the process.
Cunha, on the other hand, will be much more difficult to replace…
Why Wolves will struggle to replace Matheus Cunha
The Brazilian has joined Manchester United, who paid his £62.5m release clause, thus ending his two-and-a-half-year stint in the Midlands.
Last season, he finished with 23 goal contributions – 17 goals and six assists – across 36 matches for the Molineux outfit.
matheus cunha-1
In the Premier League, he also ranked first among the squad for goals and assists (21), shots on target per match (1.3), big chances created (13) and key passes per game (1.8).
Replacing someone recording those sorts of numbers isn’t exactly going to be easy for Pereira, that’s for sure.
Matheus Cunha's Wolves' statistics
Season
2024/25
2023/24
2022/23
Via Transfermarkt
He does, however, have funds to spend ahead of next season. If he wishes to sign a player who can replicate these types of attacking figures, then the club may have to spend big.
Recently, they have earmarked a player currently starring in Ligue 1 as a potential replacement for the Brazilian.
Wolves' perfect Cunha replacement
Pereira will be able to count on Jorgen Strand Larsen for the upcoming season, but more firepower is required, that’s for sure.
Sky Sports recently claimed that Wolves have made Nice striker Evann Guessand a priority target this summer, with the Midlands club looking at making a bid of around £25m to tempt Nice to part with one of their prized assets in the coming weeks.
evann-guessand-nice-ligue-1
The Ivorian enjoyed his breakthrough season with the club last term. Across 33 Ligue 1 appearances, the striker scored 12 goals and grabbed nine assists. This works out as a goal involvement every 1.5 matches.
Popular football magazine SCOUTED dubbed Guessand as “dangerous” and “versatile” a few weeks ago in the aftermath of his excellent season for Nice, while The Athletic's Alex Barker has noted his "Bruno Fernandes-esque drive to unpredictably create high-quality chances"
As he showcased last season, the in-demand talent does boast a real creative spark, having created 12 'big chances' in total, as per Sofascore. For context, that is not far off what Manchester United skipper, Fernandes, recorded in the Premier League (16).
Indeed, he also ranks in the top 4% among his peers in Europe's top five leagues for both successful take-ons (1.83) and progressive carries (2.98) per 90 over the previous 365 days, further showcasing his wide array of talents.
A carry is considered progressive if the ball is moved towards the opponent's goal at least 10 yards from its starting point or is carried into the penalty area.
This versatility of playing as a striker or on the left flank will certainly help Pereira get over losing Cunha.
If he does sign for just £25m, then there is no doubt that the 23-year-old could potentially generate a massive profit for Wolves in the near future.
They must act swiftly to get this deal done as soon as possible.
wolves-record-signings-jimenez-cunha-fabio-silva Related
Wolves' most expensive signings of all time
Football FanCast takes a detailed look at Wolves' 10 most expensive signings of all time.