Shropshire Star

Matheus Nunes: I have not done enough for Wolves

Matheus Nunes admits he has not done enough in his short Wolves career so far, as he targets major improvements in 2023.

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Matheus Nunes (Getty)

The midfielder signed for a club record £38million, rising to £42million, in the summer but has struggled to make an impact.

Nunes has so far failed to score for Wolves and registered just one assist all season, but the 24-year-old says he has now found the hunger to change his fortunes.

He said: “I put more pressure on myself because I want to be the best, but I don’t think I did enough. I have the hunger now to get to where I want to be.

“I want to be better than I was in the last six months, and I think these first six months of 2023 are going to be better individually for me.

“I have that in my mind and I’m pretty sure that I’m going to show that.”

After Wolves spent more than £100million in the summer, Nunes arrived alongside several other additions that were meant to push the club on.

The squad struggled and Bruno Lage was ultimately sacked in October, and while Nunes is pleased with the new start under Julen Lopetegui, he admits it may have been wiser to keep Lage in the job for longer.

Nunes said: “I don’t think we found a good balance. We have amazing players, I think that’s clear for everyone, but we didn’t show our quality.

“Our team wasn’t as intense as it should be, we got tired really quickly in the games, but I don’t think changing the manager helped us either. We also didn’t get the momentum we wanted as we would win a game and then lose or draw, and that didn’t help.

“But now, with the new coach and the new environment, I think we have the chance to get there. We can get better from here.

“It’s been really good (under Lopetegui). Not only now, but I was also talking to them when I was at the World Cup and everyone was giving good feedback. Now I’m seeing it, everything is so much different. The staff, the environment, everybody seems much happier, the environment with the players and the new coaches has been really good and everything has been different; the training, the intensity, the treatment of the players, and everything is much higher and better.

“Mentally, I think I’m ready because since the last day of the World Cup, I wanted to come back to Compton to train straight away, but physically, I had to wait until my best terms.”