football

Matheus Cunha: Wolves ace attracting transfer interest from Nottingham Forest and Arsenal but is not for sale

Nottingham Forest and Arsenal have their sights on Matheus Cunha but is the Wolves ace for sale? Sky Sports News' Danyal Khan explains the situation...

Two things can be true at once.

Matheus Cunha is attracting interest from the likes of Nottingham Forest and Arsenal - but why wouldn't he? He has consistently shown huge improvement in his performances in the last 18 months or so at Wolves.

A versatile forward who is incredibly good at carrying the ball, he is a player who has potential to deliver consistent double-digit goals and assists every season - but as the Southampton and Fulham wins showed - he can produce magic out of absolutely nothing. Almost priceless.

But from what I understand, the Brazilian is not for sale in this window.

Despite the interest in him, Wolves haven't had any bids for him nor any contact with other clubs about Cunha and they aren't interested in selling such a key player at this stage in the season - especially with so little time left.

Their business model will likely see a big sale in the summer window with the hope to fund more incomings so there is every chance of Cunha's future coming up again in the summer but for January, Wolves' stance is clear, he is not for sale.

This is slightly more nuanced and complicated. Cunha has two-and-a-half years left on his contract with a new contract on the table for him to sign.

However - he's unlikely to sign it at this moment in time.

Whether it's because of the noise around him or his own personal ambition we'll have to wait and see but Wolves are relaxed about the situation.

Looking to give him a new contract was more to do with rewarding his recent performances, which has also seen Cunha captain the side on a few occasions for the first time.

It's also worth noting Wolves aren't under any financial pressure to sell him in January - they made over £90m from the sales of Max Kilman and Pedro Neto last summer.

Cunha not signing on the dotted line just yet isn't expected to have any impact on his immediate future and I think from Wolves' point of view, they'll be hoping the noise around the Brazilian will calm down once Deadline Day passes.

It is never ideal to read or hear about one of your star players being linked with a move away - especially with the team struggling to pick up results on the pitch and in a relegation battle.

Among Wolves fans there is a sense of déjà vu as some fans may draw comparisons between Cunha and when Wolves sold Morgan Gibbs-White to Nottingham Forest a few seasons ago.

My own thoughts are that this is pretty different. With Gibbs-White, yes Wolves were reluctant sellers at the time but having sat in the news conferences with Bruno Lage, the Wolves manager at the time, it was clear from what he was consistently saying there was a price Wolves were willing to sell at.

The timing and circumstance are also different - this was in the summer of 2022, just as the season was beginning, and I think at the time it seemed like a pretty good offer of over £40m for the young midfielder.

However as mentioned previously, Wolves' Premier League safety is in serious jeopardy and to lose your star forward with limited time to replace him you can imagine the detrimental impact it would have on the squad, Vitor Pereira as well as the fans.

There is also frustration from the fans towards the likes of Wolves chairman Jeff Shi - which has been heard at recent Wolves games. Lack of perceived investment while also raising ticket prices has led to many questioning the running of the club by the Chinese business Fosun International.

However, with the club's Premier League safety in serious question this season, if Wolves do stay up perhaps this will shock the board into adjusting their recruitment model in future windows.

That's for the future though. Ultimately, the Cunha situation is an unnecessary distraction that everyone connected with Wolves could really do without considering their battle to stay in the Premier League.