Wolves were not supposed to find hope this season, certainly not from an 18-year-old who was at a non-league club two years ago. But on what many expected to be another drab afternoon for Wolves, with relegation seemingly inevitable after a run of 19 games without a win, Mateus Mané – starting a league game at Molineux for the first time – became the unlikely catalyst for the narrative to shift.
Mané made the difference as Wolves beat West Ham 3-0 in early January. He slipped a decisive ball to Hwang Hee-chan, who released Jhon Arias to score Wolves’ opener, then he won the penalty that doubled the lead. And, just when it seemed the game was settled, he spun away from Soungoutou Magassa and drilled a low shot past Alphonse Areola to score his first senior goal, completing a personal hat-trick of influence on Wolves’ first league win of the season.
For the first time in what felt like forever, someone at Wolves had grabbed a game by the scruff of the neck, played with freedom and won the team three points. Rob Edwards was full of praise: “He is 18, but he is almost a little bit of a leader in there as well,” said the head coach. “It is infectious. He is rubbing off on people, with his energy, his enthusiasm.”
Wolves’ season has not been saved and relegation is still very much on the table. What Mané has done has been much subtler: he has flipped the mood from despair to cautious optimism, giving a fractured fanbase a spark of hope. In a campaign when they have lost 16 of their 21 league games, sacked a manager, chair and sporting director, and threatened to relieve Derby’s 2007-008 vintage of the title as the worst side in Premier League history, Mané has been a reminder that, even amid the chaos, there is cause for excitement and belief in the future of the club.
Much of the criticism of Wolves’ dismal start has focused on their transfer business last summer. The club allowed 877 Premier League appearances to walk out of the door in the form of Matheus Cunha, Rayan Aït-Nouri, Fábio Silva, Gonçalo Guedes, Nélson Semedo and Pablo Sarabia. The players brought in to replace them had none. That lack of experience has been cited repeatedly this season. And yet, the player who has lifted the mood is an inexperienced teenager.
Mané’s story begins far from the Premier League spotlight. He was born in Portugal and moved to Manchester with his family as an eight-year-old. Unlike the typical academy prodigy nurtured at the same club for a decade, his ascent to the Premier League started at fifth-tier Rochdale, where he spent eight years before moving to the Wolves academy as a 16-year-old.
He wasted no time in turning heads at Wolves. In 15 appearances for the Under-18s last season he scored seven goals and set up four more. Murmurs of his talent became louder as he began to train with the first team, making the squads for matches against Fulham, Tottenham and Manchester United.
Then came the record-breaking moment: at 17 years, seven months and 13 days, he became the youngest Wolves player in the Premier League era. When he stepped on to the pitch as an 89th-minute substitute in a home defeat by Brighton last May, it capped an unbelievable rise. A year earlier he had been on the bench at Rochdale; now he was making history in front of 31,000 fans at Molineux.
“I’m sure he’ll be a surprise in this league,” said Vítor Pereira, the Wolves head coach at the time. He was right. Encouraging cameos quickly became something more substantial. It began with an assist against Arsenal in December to put Wolves just one minute away from becoming the third visiting team to take a point from the Emirates this season. A first Premier League start soon followed at Anfield, where his bravery and direct running unsettled Liverpool’s defence and nearly earned a point for his team.
Then came the big moments. His first league goal, against West Ham, arrived with history attached, making him Wolves’ youngest Premier League goalscorer. A few days later at Everton, he proved it was no fluke. His first touch would have made Andrés Iniesta proud and his finish was stylish and composed.
Mané has offered more than goals and assists. He has given Wolves something they have lacked since Cunha’s departure: a confident and positive forward who wants to get on the ball and make things happen. Cunha and Aït-Nouri were the creative heartbeat for Wolves last season; they ranked joint first for attempted take-ons, with 137 each; the next best was Semedo, another summer departure, with 71. Wolves ranked seventh for attempted take-ons in the league last season; they rank 17th this season.
The other Wolves attackers do not run at defences or take risks with the ball. Mané is the antithesis of fear; in the past month alone he has faced three of English football’s giants and played with the audacity and freedom that made him a star at youth level. He is direct and fast; he takes on defenders; he attempts the audacious pass; and he cleverly floats into pockets of space to demand the ball. It is no surprise that he leads this Wolves side for shots on target per 90 minutes (1.39), goal-creating actions per 90 (0.8), attempted take-ons per 90 (5.4) and fouls won per 90 (2.8). He is the team’s joint-top scorer this season and one of two teenagers – along with Eli Junior Kroupi – to have scored more than one goal in the league this season.
Not so long ago players such as Diogo Jota, Cunha, Pedro Neto and Rúben Neves dazzled for Wolves. The team’s creative flame had petered out until an 18-year-old from the Rochdale academy arrived to relight it. “I deserve to be here. This is where I want to be. I am here and I want to take people’s places,” he said after his performance against Liverpool. In a season when Wolves’ players have often seemed unwilling to fight for the shirt, their fans cannot help but be excited by his confidence.
This is an article by WhoScored