Matheus Cunha has branded a reporter as a ‘liar’ for claiming he ignored Wolves’ travelling fans following their defeat to Chelsea.
The Brazilian forward played the full match in his side’s 3-1 loss at Stamford Bridge on Monday night, but has been subject to criticism over his body language.
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Cunha has been Wolves’ standout player this season – chipping in with ten goals and four assists from 21 Premier League outings.
His performances has led to interest from clubs including Arsenal as he stalls over signing a new deal at Molineux.
With all eyes on the 25-year-old in west London, Liam Keen – Wolves’ correspondent for local newspaper Express and Star, was critical over Cunha’s display.
He took to X to say: “Cunha is undoubtedly a fantastic player, but his body language has been so poor today.”
Following the match, Keen then alleged that Cunha headed straight to the dressing room instead of clapping the supporters in the away end.
The journalist simply stated: “Cunha straight down the tunnel.”
It drew a fiery response from Cunha, who stressed that their working relationship is now over as a result.
The Brazilian replied: “Liar. I went to applaud them, congratulated the referees and the opposing players. Then I went to the tunnel.
“Don’t ever come and ask me to give you an interview again.”
While many fans complained over Cunha at Chelsea, Wolves boss Vitor Pereira was also highly critical, as he publicly called out the ex-Atletico Madrid man.
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Pereira said: “He can be frustrated because he wants to win, but everybody in the team wants to win.
“I don’t like this body language. I want someone as a captain trying to help the team – running, suffering, fighting together.
“This is something I can understand. Next time, I will not understand.”
When pressed on Cunha not hanging around and leaving the pitch quickly, Pereira remarked: “This is something I cannot understand.
“Again, it is the frustration – which I understand – but we need to be together. Together we can fix the problems and stay in the Premier League.
“If we start complaining about this and that, this is not the way. He is committed to Wolves but when you keep hearing about other clubs, then it is human [to be distracted].
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“But he needs to put his mind on his targets and increase his level after injury and help his team again with his quality.
“The team needs him with good energy and not with frustration. He must slow down and put his mind in the right way.”
Rangers legend Ally McCoist discussed Pereira’s comments on Cunha on the talkSPORT Breakfast show, where he was asked by co-host Jeff Stelling as to whether the player will accept being criticised publicly.
To which McCoist said: “Hopefully he should. I know it’s different eras and different players but I never had a problem with it in my life.
“As long as the person criticising me was doing it constructively and doing it for the better of me and the team, I’ve no problem with it.
“Whether he (Cunha) takes it that way, I’m not so sure but he should because it’s not about him, it’s about the team and the team staying up.”
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Despite Cunha facing an uncertain future at Molineux, talkSPORT’s chief football correspondent Alex Crook believes the forward will remain in the Midlands until at least the summer.
He said on Tuesday morning: “I don’t think it’ll happen this month, but I think the frustration with Vitor Pereira is the contract dispute, as you could call it.
“We were told two or three weeks ago that an agreement to extend his deal had been reached, but he still hasn’t put pen to paper and I think the reason he’s stalling is because his agent is looking at what’s out there.
“He’s also reluctant to sign that deal without some sort of release clause that says he can leave if Wolves are relegation.
“What I’m told from my sources at Molineux is that it won’t be an issue anyway because if they do go down then they’d have to sell him to get him off the wage bill, but the longer that contract goes unsigned the more that uncertainty will creep in and the more Vitor Pereira will be frustrated with his star man.”
With Wolves embroiled in a relegation battle with the club 17th in the table, fans will no doubt be hoping to see Cunha getting his head down and helping the club to preserve their Premier League status.
