Wolves have endured a pretty rocky 2022.
The year started out in fairly promising fashion, with Bruno Lage overseeing great away wins over the likes of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
The team were in contention to secure European football of some kind.
But Wolves ultimately did not have the bottle, and went of a run of seven games without a win to finish the 2021/22 season.
And the start of the 2022/23 season has been pretty disastrous so far, with the club sitting bottom of the Premier League.
Lage was sacked at the start of October, and Julen Lopetegui recently replaced him and will hopefully be able to pick up the pieces.
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Despite 2022 being a relative struggle, a few players have performed quite well. And here are a few contenders who are hypothetically in contention to be named the best Wolves player of 2022…
Jose Sa
Whoever scouted Jose Sa, and whoever played a part in bringing him to Molineux for just under £7 million last year deserves huge credit.
Sa has proven to be a fantastic signing for Wolves, and is most definitely an upgrade on his predecessor and fellow countryman Rui Patricio.
Sa was a major reason why Wolves were able to dream about European football last season.
Many of Wolves’ victories last term were only by a one-goal margin, meaning he was often needed at his absolute best.
He hasn’t quite been at the same high level this term, but he’s still had some great games. And he’s also made two penalty saves this season already. Those are on top of the one he made back in April against Brighton from Alexis Mac Allister.
He has without doubt been one of Wolves’ best performers this calendar year.
Ruben Neves
What else can be said about Ruben Neves that hasn’t already been said?
The man is a pure class act, and it will be a very sad time when he eventually leaves the club.
Some expected that departure to come during the summer. But in the end, no bids were forthcoming for the maestro, with Wolves’ £70 million asking price seemingly proving too prohibitive for potential suitors.
Neves stayed put, assumed the captain’s armband from Conor Coady and has led by example this term.
He has been head and shoulders above pretty much all of his teammates, and is essentially man of the match every time he plays.
Maximilian Kilman
Currently, Kilman isn’t quite at his absolute best level.
The 25-year-old has not looked as comfortable for Wolves in recent weeks and is a player who looked like he perhaps needed the suspension of the Premier League for the World Cup.
But on the whole, it was a fairly strong 2022 for Kilman.
He sustained an ankle injury towards the end of last season, and his absence ended up really stinging for Wolves.
In the final six games that Kilman missed, Wolves shipped 15 goals. There were two draws and four defeats.
Who knows how different things could have been had Kilman not suffered that injury. Because the backline was absolutely all over the place without him.
Honorable mentions – Rayan Ait-Nouri, Daniel Podence.