The Athletic’s Tim Spiers has been waxing lyrical about Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Portuguese midfielder Joao Moutinho.
Wolves’ 33-year-old middleman has been at Molineux since the summer of 2018, which was when the club paid just £5m to seal his arrival from AS Monaco (per BBC).
Since then, he has gone on to make 98 appearances for the Old Gold in which he has bagged two goals and 21 assists (per Transfermarkt).
On the latest episode of The Athletic’s The Molineux View podcast, too, Spiers was full of praise for Moutinho and his recent performances for Wolves.
He said: “There have been a few fans saying, ‘is he nailed-on for a first-team place at the moment’, because he was rested against Everton and, of course, [Ruben] Neves did so well’.
“I was looking at some of his numbers last night and he’s actually created 23% of Wolves’ chances this season. He’s actually created 77 chances in total.
“Only [James] Maddison, [Emiliano] Buendia, [Trent] Alexander-Arnold, [Jack] Grealish and [Kevin] De Bruyne have created more opportunities than Joao Moutinho this season.
“I mean, a lot of those come from set-pieces but 30 from open play as well. It just shows you how integral he is to the team. There’s only Jonny Otto who’s tackled more than him, as well.
“His experience is vital and he can produce moments like that in the final third [pass against Crystal Palace], and I’d love to see him a little bit further up the pitch at times because – just look what he can do with that pass. It was exceptional.”
TIF Thoughts…
As can be seen in what Spiers had to say, he clearly believes that Moutinho is still nailed on for a first-team place and that his statistics show that he is up there with some of the best in the Premier League in terms of chance creation.
Should Joao Moutinho still be one of the first names on the team sheet for Wolves?
Yes, he's a class player
No, he's not good enough
Looking at another statistic, it is even more clear as Moutinho has made by far the most key passes for Wolves per game this season with 2.1; which is far higher than second-placed Adama Traore who has made 1.3 (per WhoScored).
So, it is extremely clear that the Portuguese 33-year-old is a creative force to be reckoned with.