Arguably, no player divides opinion more at Wolves than Marshall Munetsi.
The Zimbabwe international joined the club at the end of the January transfer window, following Emmanuel Agbadou to Molineux from Reims.
He was essentially the replacement for Mario Lemina, whose exit from the club had been on the cards for weeks after he lost his head after the defeat to West Ham United and then refused to play against Newcastle United.
Wolves paid around £16 million to sign Marshall Munetsi, which was around the same fee as the club parted with for Agbadou.
While Agbadou has shone, Munetsi’s stint so far at Wolves has been a bit more mixed.
Vitor Pereira adores him, but a lot of Wolves fans are yet to be wholly convinced.
Marshall Munetsi should have back-up midfielder role next season for Wolves
It is clear that Munetsi is a tremendous athlete.
Pereira said Munetsi ran the most in his first training session at Wolves and clearly, that was a sign of things to come.
Work-rate is majorly important these days in football, and this particular manager places great emphasis on that.
Munetsi has started all but one Premier League game he’s been available for since coming to Wolves.
Clearly, Pereira loves what he brings to the table.
But against Brighton fans felt Munetsi lacked impact, and there have been a few other games where supporters have questioned him, despite Pereira praising him.
One of the biggest frustrations fans seem to have had with Munetsi is that he is so wasteful in front of goal. And that, aside from his relentless running, he doesn’t offer a great deal.
He may be an effective presser, and occupy players to free up Jorgen Strand Larsen. But some feel those number 10 positions require more technical players – and Munetsi is not particularly a technician. Even Pereira admitted that ahead of the recent game with Manchester City.
Munetsi is easily good enough to play for Wolves. But the current experiment with him should not continue into 2025/26.
But he ought to be playing in midfield where his industry and tenacity can be more useful. Players in the advanced midfield positions simply have to have high technical quality as well as good work-rate, and Munetsi has yet to convince he can create or score regularly.
Of course, the problem with Munetsi playing in midfield is that he is not getting into the starting XI over Joao Gomes and Andre, unless the manager wants to go with a three-man midfield, which he hasn’t really shown a desire for yet.
Munetsi stats suggest he’s not fit for number 10 role
Munetsi has almost exclusively played as an advanced midfielder since coming to Wolves.
This has been a very peculiar decision from Pereira, given he’s had actually attacking midfield options available, like Pablo Sarabia, Goncalo Guedes, Hwang Hee-chan and even Rodrigo Gomes.
But so far, some of Munetsi’s numbers while playing this position don’t make for great reading.
He’s scored just one goal so far, having had 19 shots. As per Statmuse, just six of those shots have been on target. He has a paltry conversion rate of just 5.2%. Munetsi also has just one assist.
His dribbling has also been nothing to shout home about, having had a success rate of just 25%.