Wolves once had the next Moutinho on loan, now he's even better than Gomes

Will Wolverhampton Wanderers beat the drop?

On Sunday, Vítor Pereira‘s team put in a spirited display, but got nothing to show for their efforts, narrowly beaten 2-1 by run-away league-leaders Liverpool, after Matheus Cunha‘s second-half strike set up a very nervy finish at Anfield.

Wolves have therefore lost five of their last six Premier League matches, victory over Midlands rivals Aston Villa earlier this month keeping them outside the relegation zone, two points clear of both Ipswich and Leicester.

Not so long ago, the Old Gold secured back-to-back seventh-place finishes, also reaching the Europa League quarter-finals, but even more recently than those glory days, they had a young Portuguese midfielder in their squad, who is now starring in the Champions League.

Wolves’ best Premier League midfielders

When Wolves were at their best, qualifying for Europe and regularly beating the Premier League’s big boys, their midfield duo was at the heart of all their success.

Rúben Neves joined for a reported £15.8m in 2017, an EFL Championship record fee, making 253 appearances in old gold before departing for Al-Hilal, the Saudi Pro League champions paying a reported £47m.

Even more remarkable than seeing Neves in the Championship was the sight of João Moutinho in a Wolves shirt.

That’s because, it’s not often a player who’s won three Primeira Liga trophies, the Ligue 1 title with Monaco, the Europa League and the Euros, and would later become Portugal’s second-most capped player of all-time, joins a newly-promoted club.

Nevertheless, Moutinho would go onto make 212 appearances for Wolves, with John Percy of the Telegraph describing him as a ‘key figure’ in the success Nuno Espírito Santo’s side enjoyed, while then club captain Conor Coady stated “he’s special, and we’re very lucky to have him here”.

Meantime, Tim Spires of the Athletic believed Moutinho to be ‘underrated’ given his importance to the team, ‘playing metronomically efficient passes, setting the tempo and creating chances’, adding ‘Wolves fans adored him from day one’.

Former Welsh international Dave Edwards, who made 307 appearances for Wolves, described the Portuguese star as the “best player [to] play for Wolves in my lifetime”.

So, while the contributions of Neves and Moutinho will never be forgotten in the Black Country, another Portuguese central midfielder is now starring at the highest level, but one Wolves supporters may have forgotten ever played for them.

Wolves’ forgotten Portuguese midfield maestro

If you don’t remember Vitinha’s spell at Wolves, it’s unlikely that you are the only one.

He arrived on a season-long loan from Porto in September 2020, making 22 appearances for the club, scoring one goal, this an absolute rocket in the FA Cup against National League North side Chorley.

Wolves did have a £17m option to buy, which they did not take up at the end of the season, a decision Steve Madeley of the Athletic described as a massive ‘missed opportunity’.

That’s because, after returning to Porto for a season, Paris Saint-Germain paid his release clause of €40m (£33m) a year later, and the now 25-year-old has been earning rave reviews for his performances with les Rouge-et-Bleu.

Following PSG’s Champions League victory over Brest last mid-week, manager Luis Enrique said that Vitinha “embodies the perfect midfielder”, describing him as “unique”, adding “he is vital for us in his pivot role”.

Meanwhile, after May’s Coupe de France Final victory over Lyon, Enrique also stated “Vitinha was undoubtedly our player of the season… all of our players here are good, but Vitinha is exceptional”, with Zach Lowy of PSG talk adding that his rise ‘has been nothing short of spectacular.’

Nacho Estrella Domínguez-Mompell of Fichajes notes that he has quickly become one of the ‘cornerstones’ of this PSG team. Tim Spiers and Peter Rutzler of the Athletic described him as a ‘starring.. midfield maestro’, while noting that he ‘was considered someone who could be as good as Moutinho once he developed physically.’

While he did not stay long enough to live up to that Moutinho comparison, let’s see how Vitinha compares to Wolves’ most-used central midfielder João Gomes so far this season.

As the table outlines, in a comparable number of minutes, Vitinha has massively outperformed Gomes this term, particularly when it comes to in-possession statistics, with the Brazilian, in fairness to him, having racked up more than twice as many tackles and the same number of interceptions.

This all shows that, unquestionably, Vitinha would improve Wolves’ team right now, and that they were wrong not to take up the option to buy when they had the chance, even if, had he stayed at Molineux, he may not have fulfilled his current potential.

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