Daniel Podence’s future at Wolverhampton Wanderers was recently called into question after a slow start to life at Molineux. The 24-year-old struggled for playing time under Nuno Espirito Santo and was recently linked with a loan move to Celtic, but a Man of the Match performance in Wolves’ 3-0 win over Everton on Sunday will end all talk of a potential exit.
Podence joined Wolves from Olympiacos for £17.64m in January and has gone on to make nine appearances in all competitions with two assists. The Portuguese wide-man has only amassed 221 minutes of football, however, so his future was in doubt. Before the Everton clash, Podence hadn’t started a Premier League game and managed only one minute on the pitch since football returned in England.
The 24-year-old was an unused substitute in Wolves’ 2-0 win over West Ham United (June 20), played one minute in their 1-0 win over Bournemouth (June 24), was an unused substitute in the 1-0 win over Aston Villa (June 27), was left out of the matchday in the 2-0 defeat to Arsenal (July 4) and was an unused substitute in the 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United (July 8).
Despite the lack of football, Nuno gave him a rare start against Everton and was vindicated in his decision. Podence has made 4/5 successful dribbles and averaged a chance created every 38 minutes. The Wolves manager had faith in him and wasn’t let down, so why would he move him on?
