Matheus Cunha interview: Wolves ahead on refinding his ardour for soccer after clicking with Gary O’Neil | Soccer Information

Matheus Cunha has rediscovered his love for soccer at Wolves, one thing that he readily admits as he displays on his first full season within the Premier League. His relationship with Gary O’Neil has been an enormous consider him having the perfect season of his profession.

“It is the season that I have enjoyed the most,” he says. “I think it has been the best relationship I have had with a gaffer ever. I have an unbelievable coach who supports everyone a lot. Everything together has helped me to show everyone my best version.”

No one is extra stunned by that than Cunha himself. When O’Neil changed Julen Lopetegui, the person who had made him Wolves’ file signing halfway via the earlier season, there have been these questioning what that will imply for the Brazilian.

Cunha was first amongst them. “It was hard for me, to be honest, because Julen was the manager who brought me here,” he says.

“You always want to work with the manager who brought you here because you feel confident. Gary came and I started to be a little bit afraid about what would happen. I lost the manager who bought me and maybe this manager doesn’t like me.”

There have been awkward moments early on. Within the first recreation of the season, Cunha brought about all types of issues for Manchester United, successful the participant of the match award on Monday Evening Soccer regardless of Wolves shedding 1-0. However that’s not his overriding reminiscence.

“He changed me in the 77th minute,” remembers Cunha. “I started to think, ‘Oh my god, this season will be hard with this coach. It was my best game and he is changing me, what can I do?'” Worse was to observe after defeat to Brighton within the opening dwelling recreation.

“I did not have a good reaction and started to do crazy things, saying training was not the best, and Gary came to me and said, ‘I am with you, I am not your enemy. I know it is hard to start a new journey with someone but I am here to help you.'”

It was maybe the pivotal dialog of Wolves’ season “I will always remember how he looked at me as more than a football player.” Cunha would go on to attain 14 targets in all competitions and emerge as one of many Premier League’s most fun gamers.

These early issues are gone now. “We always joke about it and smile,” says Cunha. “I really enjoy working with him and how he manages the group. I have learned a lot about how to manage hard situations. I have more appreciation for football with him.”

Cunha, it appears, is a special type of character. “I am Brazilian and a very emotional guy,” he explains. “I do not play football because I want to win, go home and it is finished. I play because it is my whole life. When I was a kid all I wanted to do was play football.”

He has retained that childlike pleasure to his recreation, all rabonas and rampaging runs. He doesn’t wish to lose that. “I do not want to go to the pitch and be a robot, I want to enjoy it. This season gave me back this part of enjoying the game and playing with a smile.”

It was about discovering a stability, permitting Cunha to specific himself however making certain that it will work for the group. That first part-season at Wolves yielded solely two targets, each of them in defeats, so there was work to do for O’Neil to make higher use of his abilities.

“With Julen, our situation was not the best so when we scored one goal we tried to [hold on to] win the game and I needed to run a lot between the lines to help the team win. This season is a season I have enjoyed more and I have more time to be free.”

It isn’t simply the targets. These highly effective runs from deep that had been evident at Outdated Trafford turned a characteristic of Wolves’ season. Talking on the membership’s coaching floor, he’s proven a graphic that lists him among the many high dribblers within the Premier League.

“This is crazy for me. I never thought I could dribble like this,” says Cunha, now 25. It displays his function beneath O’Neil. “They put me in this position and I love it, to play between 10 and nine, behind the forward. I touch the ball more and have more guys to pass to.”

The problem has been to ensure that Cunha makes these off-the-ball runs too. “At the start of the season they came to me and showed me some data. They said I need to arrive more in the box. They showed me images of my position and where to arrive.”

The rewards adopted, most notably when scoring a hat-trick in a 4-2 win over Chelsea in February. “The game against Chelsea was unbelievable. To go there and score three goals, I will always remember it. It was one of the best moments in my career.”

Wolves supporters may need most popular his aim on the earlier weekend in a 2-0 FA Cup win over West Brom, a primary Black Nation derby victory on the Hawthorns in 28 years. “Maybe it is my second best moment because I felt it from the fans,” says Cunha.

“It was crazy. They cared more about this game than the Premier League.” The aim is referred to in an up to date crowd chant about him. “The song is amazing. I tried to learn it and it was a little bit hard, but I love it honestly. I feel like I am connected with the fans.”

All of which makes it extra shocking that Cunha had reservations about transferring from Atletico Madrid to Wolves due to sure cultural issues. “I was afraid to come to England, honestly.” These worries stemmed from his time taking part in in Germany.

Cunha spent three seasons within the Bundesliga with RB Leipzig and Hertha Berlin – with blended outcomes. “The fans were amazing. But away from football the people were very far away from my culture.” They had been naturally extra reserved. “Not bad people but cold.”

He provides: “Brazilians are very emotional people who talk, who give hugs. I was afraid to come to England and have the same experience but I came and it was completely different. The people are so good.” Wolverhampton feels extra like dwelling than Berlin or Madrid.

His son is settled in class. “He loves to be here. He has even started to learn English with the accent. We love Harry Potter in the house. I say, Harry Potter. He says, no, Harry Potter. Oh my god, he is three years old and he is starting to teach me,” he laughs.

It’s a reminder that this isn’t nearly Cunha’s profession. “These things are more than football. It is how the people talk to me here. This is the city that has given me back the passion for football. Everything together shows me that I am in the right place.”

Huge phrases from somebody so well-travelled already. He was 18 years outdated when he left Brazil for Switzerland however his first style of homesickness was when transferring from the north of the Brazil to the south in pursuing his soccer dream on the age of simply 14.

“A three-hour flight. Imagine. It was like going to Russia, maybe. Completely different. This was my hard moment of my life.” He remembers the chilly climate. “In my city, it was never 25 degrees. People would wear jumpers because normally it was 35 degrees.”

All the things else has appeared just a little simpler since. “After doing this, going to Switzerland, I felt already prepared. I had left home already.” It helps that he speaks six languages: Portuguese, Spanish, French, English, German and Italian. “I am a man of the world.”

Even so, it’s shocking to listen to how badly his disappointments at Atletico impacted him. Simply previous to becoming a member of Wolves, he had missed out on the World Cup with Brazil. He talks of these “moments where I did not feel like I wanted to play football” in consequence.

At Wolves, his tough moments have come because of damage.

One week on from his haul at Stamford Bridge, he broke down at dwelling to Brentford having been sick with a fever all week. “You cannot score a hat-trick and then not play the next game. I wanted to play. I felt very confident. At the start of the game, it happens.”

Preliminary reviews urged that the hamstring drawback would preserve him out for 12 weeks. He was again in just a little over six however not fairly shortly sufficient to assist Wolves keep away from defeat to Coventry within the FA Cup quarter-final, a recreation that would have remodeled their season.

“It was a very hard moment because you want to do every single thing right to get back soon,” he says. “I did the best recovery in my life. I was maybe 10 days late with my comeback. You never know, maybe if I had played, the injury would still be there.”

There have been late evening calls to O’Neil badgering him to be included for the sport. “I felt like I could play. But I always think I can play.” It’s a little perception into how their relationship had grown over the course of the season. It’s why he’s excited for what’s subsequent.

“Maybe we can show we are a team that can go for Europe and things. I hope so. We can show everyone the potential that we have. I am very excited to be here, very excited for the future with Wolves. I am happy, that is the most important thing for me.”

Soccer can typically really feel like a grind with its fixed calls for. Watching Matheus Cunha at his greatest is a reminder that it may be enjoyable too. For us and for him. “I am very happy to get back my passion to play football, to enjoy, to smile, to play. This is a gift.”