Taking a trip to the west Midlands down the Jorge Mendes Highway

Being held to a draw early in the season by a newly promoted side such as Fulham can be enough to send some people into a blind panic, the sort of wild flat spin and concomitant loss of perspective that eventually leads to Clockwork Orange-levels of base delinquency. But the folk at Wolverhampton Wanderers have signally calmer dispositions than the uber-rattled Darwin Núñez. Disappointing draw with the Cottagers? No need to fret, fuss and feud! Let’s simply respond by quietly and efficiently breaking the club transfer record for one of the most talked-about young midfielders in Europe! And there we have it, spirit restored at a stroke. All tranquil again, and no need to be putting the nut on anyone quite yet.

Matheus Nunes of Sporting is the latest player to come careering, in more ways than one, down the Jorge Mendes Highway, that well-trodden toll road that runs direct from Portugal to the west Midlands. This particular journey has cost Wolves an initial £38m, plus five million of your continental euros in potential add-ons, should stuff happen. The fee exceeds Wolves’ previous biggest outlay, the €35m they paid Porto for Fábio Silva, who is now on loan at Anderlecht where he’s already scored more goals (five) in six appearances than he did for Wolves (four) in 63. That’s very promising news for Wolves in the long run, and yet they wouldn’t be human if those stats somehow didn’t make their teeth itch. It’s OK to be unsure how to process this sort of stuff.

Silva was very young when he arrived at Molineux, though – he’s still only 20 – but more will be expected from the get-go of 23-year-old Nunes. He’s already helped Sporting to their first Portuguese title in nearly 20 years, while Pep Guardiola has described him as