Cunha, Danso and Wolves transfer update
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00:00Hello, I'm Nathan Judo, I'm here with World Report, it's Mr. Liam Kee. Mr. Liam Kee, it's
00:15been a long night. What time is it now, Kee? My battery's gone.
00:18That's a good question. Your phone has already died. It is twenty past ten.
00:22Twenty past ten, drink responsibly everybody. Look, it's not often when you get a 2-0 win
00:26against local rivals. And yeah, it's a good day, it's a good day today. Look, we're doing
00:33a second video because we've got a bit of transfer news of course. Look, we were strolling
00:38around in the corridors in the darkest depths of Molyneux and then all of a sudden Sir Mateus
00:43Cunha walks by. He does, yes. He does, and before that there was some documentation that
00:48we saw, some ink that was still wet, and it had Mateus Cunha's name on it. Please give
00:55us more. He's come straight off the pitch, he's scored a 97th minute goal to give Wolves
01:00a 2-0 win. He's gone, had a quick shower. He's done all that, all that celebrations.
01:06He's gone and had a quick shower. Given Hobbsy a big hug. He's come back up, got into his
01:12box, what did you call it? Yeah, executive box, yeah. Dressed very nice in Louis Vuitton.
01:19He sat down with Mr. Geoff Shee, Mr. Matthew Hobbs, and he has signed that contract instantly.
01:26Boom! Signed the contract. She takes the goal. We were but mere metres away from the action.
01:34He did walk past and say hello, said hello to me as well, all the people that are interested.
01:37He don't thought that, he did. I'm waiting for you to make another joke. No. And... Are
01:44you okay still, is it? It was all good, it was all good. There was picture evidence of
01:50it. There was. I hope he doesn't go out. We shook hands very nicely. He looked a bit awkward.
01:54Look, he's in a good frame of mind. Obviously, look, massive win. They're outside the relegation
01:57zone today. It couldn't have got any better. Mateus Cunha gets his name on the score sheet
02:01as well and he is a Wolves player until 2029. Now, look, we can discuss a lot about whether
02:05he's going to be a Wolves player in 2029. We all don't think that, but at the same time,
02:08look, it's good to get things done and dusted. There's two days before the transfer window.
02:12There's a lot of different movements that we're going to discuss in a little bit. A
02:14lot of things that can change very quickly. What isn't going to change is that Mateus
02:17Cunha is a Wolves player until the end of the season, which is huge. Exactly. Which
02:20we've been saying all along. It would have taken a crazy feat for him to go at any point
02:23before the end of the season. The player could have signed the contract a long time ago.
02:28We're talking two, three weeks ago. It was clear that his people were sort of canvassing
02:31opinion from elsewhere. At the same time, he does have an affinity with this club. He
02:38does want to keep this club in the Premier League and he was being offered more money.
02:41So it seemed like a no-brainer to take the contract. You're not going anywhere in January
02:44anyway. That was the club's position. You sign the contract, you commit your future
02:49and you keep Wolves in the Premier League. He scored a lovely goal tonight. Wolves got
02:54a massive win. It's a contract for a player that will be, well, has deserved the contract
02:59first of all, but also will be sticking around until, as you say, the summer at the very
03:01least. It's all rosy, apart from maybe a signing falling through, which will come soon.
03:11In terms of Mateus Cunha, at the same time, Wolves owe him a lot, but he owes Wolves a
03:16lot as well. They took a gamble on him as well. He wasn't prolific, paid a lot of money
03:22for him. He's put himself on a Premier League platform in front of the world. He's got his
03:27Brazil place back in. I know he's out of the team at this moment in time, but he's gone
03:33back as well. The fans and this football club have done a lot for Mateus Cunha. It's great
03:39that he's put pen to paper and he's a Wolves player. Mateus Cunha is a Wolves player between
03:46now and the end of the season. As we said from the start, we think Wolves will be okay.
03:50Yes, exactly. He's super talented. With a player like him, when he's playing at his
03:55best, which at the moment he isn't, don't get me wrong. He isn't at his best right now,
03:58but he still scores a fantastic goal. When he can get him at his best, he's good enough
04:02to keep this team in the Premier League, alongside the other talented players that have popped
04:05up in our post-match analysis. Also, for Cunha and for the club, it puts all of the
04:13speculation to rest as well. Regardless of him getting more money and the Wolves keeping
04:17it until the summer, just to be able to say, right, all of this noise is gone. You focus
04:22on your football. You knuckle down. You focus on keeping this club in the Premier League.
04:26That can only be a good thing for the player and for the football club.
04:29We said things could change very, very quickly. Mateus Cunha's future is not changing. What
04:33is changing very, very quickly is the future of someone like Kevin Danzo, who we expected
04:36to come to the country. He's in England at this moment in time. He's not in Wolverhampton.
04:40He stayed in London, as you're going to say in a little bit.
04:43That was my big thing to put out there.
04:45Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry.
04:46I'm joking, I'm joking.
04:47But look, expected to sign a loan deal until the end of the season. That's not the case
04:50now because they've been gazumped at the last minute.
04:53Hijacked.
04:54Hijacked.
04:55Yes, so things started moving today. We were aware of things moving. We were trying to
05:00firm up some facts, which takes a bit of time. It seems likely that he was going to
05:08arrive at Wolves. It all breaks and we find out that he flew to London today. He arrived
05:15in England. He agreed a straight loan, no option to buy, no obligation to buy, a straight
05:22loan to come to Wolverhampton Wonders until the end of the season. He was due to travel
05:27from London to Wolverhampton tomorrow, Sunday, depending on when this video comes out. Sunday
05:32was the plan. And at the 11th hour, the very last minute, Spurs, who have shown interest
05:38in Danzo in the past. I can't speculate how they've done it. I'm sure the fact he's in
05:45London may have had something to do with it.
05:46Oh, they've been waiting in the airport for him. Coming to this limousine.
05:49They have hijacked the deal. The Wolves were actually in with McCuneo, waiting for him
05:56to come up and sign the contract. And they got the call there and then to say, sorry
06:00guys, he's going to Spurs instead. Now he's going to Spurs on a permanent deal as well.
06:06I think the reports are that it's about 25 million euros. Wolves have had offers rejected
06:12for him as well up until that point. And Wolves have been, presumptuous as you say, they are
06:16no longer getting Kevin Danzo and they'll be turning their attentions elsewhere.
06:19Yeah, look, at the same time, in terms of Kevin Danzo, look, we all know that he was
06:23one of the top targets throughout this window. But look, how many hints do you want that
06:27if a play doesn't want to come to you? And it feels like the Danzo party had three or
06:33four or five offers on the table. And if all those offers didn't materialise, he was going
06:36to go to Wolves. That's what it seems out from the outside. And it looks like he's gone
06:40to Spurs. And if you've got someone whose heart is in it, especially if you're signing
06:43a loan deal, it's not even an obligation to buy. If it's someone on a six month loan deal,
06:47how much fight do you have? Because he knows that he's not integrated with this structure,
06:52with this fan base. It's someone who's going to come in on a rental and then he's going
06:55to go back. It doesn't matter to him. You need someone who's going to fight for the
06:59shirt. I just feel like from all the signs we've seen from the Danzo camp, that's maybe
07:03not the character you want when you're in a relegation battle.
07:05I think that's a good point, definitely. Look, is it a blow that Wolves have missed out on
07:08a player that they wanted and in a position that they need? Of course it is. I don't think
07:12you can dress it up as anything other than that. But you have to take into account, as
07:16you've just said, the fact that Wolves have been working on this for a long time. They
07:21almost went for him in the summer. They could have had him earlier in this window. They've
07:25attempted to get that over the line. There's been stalling, there's been delaying, there's
07:31been interest reportedly from Juventus, from Villa, who was of course beaten tonight. Spurs
07:36as we mentioned. Spurs as we mentioned. And you are right, if a player isn't absolutely
07:44desperate to come to this club and help them stay in the league, you might have dodged
07:48a bullet.
07:49It's always said about signing the right characters, signing the right characters, how they go in
07:52that dressing room.
07:53Obviously we don't know him personally. I'm sure he's a lovely chap, I'm sure he is.
07:56No, bugger him.
07:57But if you don't have a player desperate to be here, desperate to come in and play, and
08:02help this team in a dire situation, that they need help, then you may have dodged a bullet
08:07there. Now you do need to go and do business elsewhere, because you need to be able to
08:11add to this side. But I think potentially, considering the situation, it may have worked
08:18out okay for us, depending on what they can do between now and Monday.
08:20Right, exactly. We've got nearly 48 hours, just past 48 hours I think at this moment
08:23in time, to get deals done. We are thinking that there will be at least one in, aren't
08:28we?
08:29Yeah, they still want a centre-back and they still want a midfielder. It's becoming increasingly
08:32likely now that they'll probably get one over the line. But it's definitely not impossible
08:39they can get two. They have been looking at potentially bringing a forward in as well.
08:43We've got the Carlos Forbes situation that's ongoing, the Mario Minas situation that's
08:46ongoing. Of course, things will change quickly, I think it's important to stress that as we
08:49have done. Look at Danzo tonight, it changed within an hour or so. But I think those other
08:57sort of side deals are becoming less and less likely. And we're looking at a situation of
09:01Wolves probably bringing one, maybe two, if they can get some deals over the line. But
09:06it's also going to depend on the squad as well, because they've got limited space in
09:09that squad. They need a homegrown player here or there if they're going to be able to fill
09:11the squad out.
09:12And they still need some juggling balls, there's still some to fall in the right direction
09:17as well. It's not guaranteed, but we do think that there will be one that will come into
09:20the club. And look, you don't know what a win it is these days. I'm sure they'll be
09:25making some other inquiries. You see that, you see a club that have gone above the relegation
09:29zone and have just been a Champions League contender or a Champions League side who are
09:32doing very, very well. You might get a couple of surprise ones, but we do think at this
09:36moment in time, being realistic, like you say, one and maybe two. In terms of Mario
09:40Lamina, very interesting. Obviously, the Saudi window closed yesterday. The Turkish
09:44window is still open. But do you feel it's becoming more like that Mario Lamina will
09:49stay at Wolves? And if he does, can he integrate himself back into this dressing room and back
09:53into this fan base?
09:54I think an important point on this, it's something we have mentioned, but maybe hasn't been taken
09:59on board by a lot of supporters, is that although he wants to leave the club, which we thought
10:04and the way it perhaps has been gone about has been poor. He's also been training consistently
10:10for the first team and he's been around the group consistently as well. He's not someone
10:13that's been bombed out to the 21s and he's walking around, shopping around Compton and
10:17causing a fuss and causing a problem. He hasn't been doing that. But prayer has taken what
10:22I think is the right decision by taking him out of the spotlight and not playing him.
10:26But the Saudi window, as you say, is closed. That move didn't happen. Turkish window is
10:31open and it will be open until I think it's the 11th of February and there'll be interest,
10:36I'm sure. But unless there's the right move and the move that Wolves can probably reinvest
10:41a little bit or bring someone in, it's becoming less likely that he leaves his football club
10:45now, which is a remarkable situation for where we were two weeks ago at the end of that Newcastle
10:50game, wasn't it? So there's every chance that Mario Lamina is here until the end of the
10:54season and if he is, Vito Pereira may need him and he may need him to go there and perform.
10:59And I think the player, albeit his head's all over the place and he wants to move on,
11:04I think the player will probably knuckle down and go for it if he does stay and I hope
11:09he does. And there is a chance he could turn around the end of his Wolves career, but he's
11:14going to take a big F. He's going to have to show a lot. At the same time, we've said
11:19all that, a club could come in tomorrow with a big offer and he might still leave. So it's
11:24becoming more likely that he sticks around, not impossible that he goes. It's a situation
11:28that Wolves have to monitor quite carefully considering they want to bring some additions
11:32in as well.
11:33You've got to do that for certain. Who's going to be the first one to use the four-word
11:36cliché with Mario Lamina?
11:39I don't know what you're talking about. Four words? It could be anything.
11:43Like a new...
11:46I would never dream of saying that.
11:48No, no, no. Look, we will be with you. We will be with you. We're with you tonight.
11:53We're going to be with you tomorrow. We're going to be with you all of Monday, right
11:56the way until 11 o'clock and past. Me, him and lots of transfer news hopefully, but it's
12:01been a good day. Enjoy today. Wolves 2, Villanelle, we'll take it.