This was supposed to be the season Yerson Mosquera really emerged for Wolves.
The Colombia international suffered an injury on his competitive debut for the club back in 2021, which completely changed the course of his journey at Wolves.
After recovering, and having loan spells with FC Cincinnati and Villarreal, Mosquera returned to Wolves and Gary O’Neil made him a starting centre-back alongside Toti Gomes.
Despite Wolves’ struggles as a collective, Mosquera impressed and was on an exciting trajectory.
However in September, Mosquera suffered damage to his knee during the defeat to Aston Villa and was stretchered off. Tests then uncovered that he had suffered injuries to both his ACL and MCL, and Mosquera then underwent surgery.
Wolves fans were left devastated by Mosquera’s injury and that he won’t play again this season. It was truly a cruel setback for the youngster, and everyone associated with Wolves wishes him well.
But there is arguably one positive that has come out of the Colombian’s misfortune.
Santiago Bueno is steadily proving himself in a Wolves shirt
With Mosquera sidelined, O’Neil now only has three senior centre-backs to choose from.
They are Craig Dawson, Toti Gomes and Santiago Bueno.
As a result of Mosquera’s injury, Uruguay international Bueno has started to see more game time at Molineux.
He replaced the injured Mosquera against Villa for the closing stages and then started the next game against Liverpool.
After being an unused substitute against Brentford, O’Neil then decided to start playing with all three of his centre-backs. Bueno came into the starting XI against Manchester City and has played every single minute in the Premier League since.
Bueno also got a full game against Brighton in the Carabao Cup, although he likely would have started that game no matter what.
Wolves were open to offloading Bueno
It was claimed at the end of the transfer window that Wolves were actually open to offloading Bueno, indicating that the belief in him wasn’t initially there.
For whatever reason he did not end up moving away, sticking around to effectively be fourth-choice.
But situations can change so quickly in football, and Bueno now finds himself a regular under O’Neil and this surely would not have happened had Mosquera not sustained the injury he did.
Even if Mosquera had still been available at this point, O’Neil would likely not have thrown Bueno into his back three. So he’s taken his opportunity with both hands.
He came in against City for the change of formation and has kept his place in the side – and he’s now finally showing why Wolves dropped £8.5 million to sign him from Girona.
| Bueno’s PL minutes before Aston Villa game | Bueno’s PL minutes after Aston Villa game |
| 0 | 437 |
In his first season, Bueno had some good moments but for many the jury was still out on him at the end of the campaign.
But he’s been looking more and more comfortable for Wolves. Yes, the team is still conceding too many goals, but Bueno hasn’t made any glaring errors and looks to be enjoying playing alongside Premier League veteran Craig Dawson.
Currently, WhoScored have Bueno ranked as the ninth-best player for Wolves this season based on average rating (6.46), which is pretty respectable.
Hopefully, he can continue to improve and can make it as difficult as possible for Wolves’ new centre-back signing – whoever that may be – when he comes in in January.