After a 3-1 loss to Chelsea in the Premier League, Wolves superstar Matheus Cunha fueled transfer speculation and caused quite a stir among supporters when he headed straight down to the tunnel at the final whistle.
Throughout the match, Cunha looked lethargic and disinterested, in stark contrast to his usual performances this season, which have been of the highest caliber and rank him among the Premier League Player of the Season candidates.
Cunha wasn’t the only poor performer against Chelsea, but as the team’s best player and captain, much more is expected from the Brazilian international than what he showed on Monday night.
His manager, Vitor Pereira, had some very harsh words for his star man after the game that were captured by BBC Sport journalist Nizaar Kinsella, He’s a captain… he can be frustrated as he wants to win but everyone in the dressing room wants to win. I do NOT like his body language. I understand it now, I will NOT understand it next time.”
Since then, teams around Europe have been put on higher alert, and Fabrizio Romano reports that Arsenal are among the teams interested in the 25-year-old attacker.
In light of this reported interest from the Premier League title contenders, let’s take a look at three reasons why Arsenal might want to sign the forward.
One of the biggest talents in the Premier League
Aside from a blip at Atletico Madrid where he was mostly a rotational player on a highly defensive team, Matheus Cunha has been a successful component of every team’s attack he played for.
When he began his career as a prospect at RB Leipzig, he immediately turned heads with his roulette into a chip goal that is legitimately one of the best ever scored in the modern Bundesliga.
He was even better for Hertha Berlin, but he honestly didn’t fully blossom until reaching closer to his prime and moving to Wolves from Atleti. After scoring 12 goals with 7 assists last season in his second campaign with the Premier League side, Cunha is already up to 10 goals and 4 assists this season.
Wolves would be relegation fodder without Cunha, who has been one of the best attacking players in a league that includes Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, and current Ballon d’Or favorite Mohamed Salah.
Cunha is averaging 1.9 dribbles completed, 1.9 fouls drawn, and 1.7 key passes to supply so much more than “just” goals and assists to Wolves. In juxtaposition to his display vs. Chelsea, Cunha works hard for the team, even winning 2.0 combined tackles and interceptions per match as an attacking midfielder.
Less reliance on Martin Odegaard
Arsenal are still in the Premier League title race, but they are six points behind Liverpool, who have a game in hand, and continue to rely too much on the same two players to carry the attack.
Although Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz are quality footballers, neither are sure-fire, world-class talents in the way that Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard are. And both Odegaard and Saka have gone down with injuries at points this season, leaving Arsenal reeling, at times, without them.
Odegaard is the heart of everything good about Arsenal in the middle of the pitch as one of European football’s premier midfielders and playmakers. Although Cunha doesn’t have Odegaard’s vision or passing accuracy, he is even more skilled, more athletic, a better finisher, and just as hard-working at winning possession.
Signing Cunha can help Arsenal become less reliant on Odegaard to make things happen against low blocks or tough defenses in those 0-0 games, and they can even take a page from the treble-winning Manchester City side by making use of a two-headed playmaking monster, starting both Odegaard and Cunha simultaneously.
Matheus Cunha would be another source of goals
The biggest problem Arsenal have is scoring goals. Literally, everything else about Arsenal is exceptional. They have the best performing goalkeeper of the 2024/25 Premier League season in David Raya, an elite defense spearheaded by one of the world’s most dominant center back pairings, two world-class midfielders, and the second-best player in the league in Saka.
Even their front line has good depth – and that’s taking into consideration a serious injured suffered by Gabriel Jesus at striker. It’s just that Arsenal don’t have someone who can bang home 20 goals in a season with reliability, as their best goal-scorer is Saka, who is more of an all-around profile on the wing than, say, someone like Salah who can score with volume.
Arsenal passed up on signing a striker this past summer after Benjamin Sesko decided to stay in Leipzig, and, now, they are still in the market for more goal-scoring help.
There isn’t a good striker available on the January 2025 transfer market right now, unless if Juventus’s Dusan Vlahovic becomes available, so Cunha, with his 10 goals from the attacking midfield, is the best option.
Like Havertz, Cunha is an attacking midfielder who can play as a center forward, and he actually has a better scoring record than the German international, meaning he could compete for minutes as a CF, especially with Jesus out.
