Wolves saw one of their former players steal the headlines last night in the Champions League, seeing Arsenal legend Thierry Henry sing the praises of the player Nuno Espirito Santo rejected.
While Wolves aren’t in action until Saturday, the Old Gold would have had their attention turned to the Champions League action last night, as one of Molineux’s former loanees shone.
Back in 2020, Vitinha arrived on loan in Wolverhampton from Porto, having the opportunity to impress Nuno Espirito Santo in order to potentially seal a move to the Premier League.
The loan came with a pre-agreed purchase fee of just £17m, presenting an exciting prospect for both Nuno and Wolves for the young Portuguese player.
Unfortunately, things didn’t work out for the now 24-year-old at Molineux, now leaving Nuno red-faced over the player he rejected to sign as he continues to show his quality on the world stage.
Former Wolves loanee Vitinha made the headlines last night
Last night, the central midfielder was lauded for the part he played in sealing PSG’s progression into the Champions League semi-finals, earning high praise from Thierry Henry for his form.
Speaking on CBS Sports, the Arsenal and France legend waxed lyrical about Vitinha’s display, dubbing him the ‘main man’ in Luis Enrique’s side.
“The main man for me, he’s running the show for a very long time for this team now, is Vitinha.
“Nobody talks about him, he scored in Paris, he scored again tonight, he was everywhere.”
Since leaving Wolves, the 2000-born star has excelled at both Porto and now PSG, becoming a key figure in Enrique’s squad to reinforce just what Wolves could have had for a mere fee of £17m.
Wolves could have had a top-class player in Vitinha
On paper, Nuno and Bruno Lage both failed to grasp the opportunity to sign the midfielder for a fee as low as £17m however, it wasn’t so simple.
The youngster struggled to fit into Nuno’s plans during his loan spell at Wolves, particularly due to the prominence of both Joao Moutinho and Ruben Neves in the squad at the time.
It was an assured decision for the former manager to make when it came to whether or not he deemed Vitinha worth paying £17m for, which has now proven to be a major error.
Now sporting an estimated market value of €60m (£51m) and stealing the headlines on a stage as grand as the Champions League, Wolves will be thinking of what could have been for the midfielder, had his time at Molineux been more rewarding.
Considering some of the players that Wolves have taken a chance with over the years, it’s astonishing to think that the potential of Vitinha wasn’t recognised, particularly when revising his prominence now.
The Old Gold won’t be looking at the Portuguese jewel and yearning for his services, with Gary O’Neil’s squad working well in his system, just as Nuno’s squad did, but still, nothing can take away from the fact that a £17m fee could have landed a real player back in 2021.