The ‘incredible’ Matheus Cunha can aim for ‘something more’ than Premier League strugglers Wolverhampton Wanderers, the striker’s former FC Sion coach Alessandro Recenti argues.
Wolves paid a club-record £43 million for the Brazil international in the hope that Cunha would help ease their goalscoring problems. The fact that he has just one in 12 appearances under Julen Lopetegui so far, however, is proof of Cunha’s sluggish start in his new Molineux home.
The former Atletico Madrid benchwarmer is not yet living up to the potential that saw him labelled an ‘extraordinary’ talent and likened to the legendary Samuel Eto’o during his time in the Bundesliga.
The hope will be that Cunha’s first Wolves goal – a heavily deflected effort during the 4-2 defeat at home to Leeds United before the international break – can be something of a ‘dam-releasing’ moment.
Recenti, who worked with a teenage Cunha in Swizerland, certainly expects more from a player he believes should have a seat at the top table.
Matheus Cunha now at Wolves after leaving Atletico Madrid
“I remember when he arrived at Sion. He wasn’t 18 yet,” Recenti tells Tuttomercatoweb. “The fact that he has changed a few clubs means that he still has to grow and improve. But he is an incredible player.
“There was talk of interest from Italian teams before he went to Atletico Madrid, and I personally hoped (that he would move to Serie A).
“He is incredible. I’m sure he can reach the highest level once again, despite already being at Wolverhampton. He can still aspire to something more.”
The likes of Leeds, Everton and Arsenal reportedly wanted Cunha before his Wolves move.
While not a ‘great goalscorer’, the one-time RB Leipzig starlet is often a scorer of great goals. He won the Bundesliga’s Goal of the Season award during his Red Bull days; scoring an exquisite individual effort that would not look out of place in Dennis Bergkamp’s back catalogue.
‘He has the profile to play in the Premier League’
“Cunha is a good player,” Lopetegui told the Wolves website in December. “I think he’s a good signing for us in the present and also for the future. I feel that he is a very complete forward.
“He has a good condition and good skills, not only technically, but physically. Because this is England and in the Premier League, you have to be very combative if you want to survive.
“I think he has this profile to play here for a lot of years. Of course, we are going to help him to develop his strengths in the future.
“It’s true that he hasn’t scored a lot of goals. But it’s true also that he is able to score a lot of goals. I hope that he is going to do this here. He’s a very young forward, but he has the quality and the skills to become a very good striker.”
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