Wolves rejection to double Champions League winner: Vitinha's rise to top

ByLauren McCann

BBC Sport NI Journalist

It has been a glorious couple of years for Portugal and Paris St-Germain midfielder Vitinha.

The 25-year-old has been integral for his club side, helping them to consecutive Champions League triumphs and domestic league titles.

He was also part of the Nations League-winning Portugal team, scoring in the shootout as they beat Spain on penalties in the final.

His form saw him voted as the third best player in the world behind Ousmane Dembele and Lamine Yamal at the Ballon d'Or ceremony at the end of last year.

Vitinha is now regarded as one of the best midfielders in the world, but few could have predicted such a rise to the top in such a short space of time when he was struggling on loan at Wolves five years ago.

Vitinha joined the Porto academy in 2011 and rose through the ranks to the first team, making his debut in January 2020 against Gil Vicente.

He would make seven further appearances that season as Porto won the Primeira Liga, but with the club under financial pressure, the then 20-year-old joined Wolves on a season-long loan with an option to buy for £17m.

When announcing the signing that summer, Wolves executive chairman Jeff Shi said that Vitinha was "a crucial signing".

Nuno Barbosa, a Portuguese journalist for Jornal de Noticias, told the club website that "it's impossible to watch him play and him not remind you of Joao Moutinho".

Such a description of Vitinha ring true, years later, but Wolves fans only saw glimpses of the superstar he turned out to be.

Vitinha's transition to English football was made difficult by the Covid-19 pandemic.

With fellow Portuguese midfielders Moutinho and Ruben Neves in front of him too, he struggled to establish himself at Molineux and when he did feature, he was often played out of position.

He made his debut as a substitute away to Sheffield United on 14 September, but his full Premier League debut would not arrive until 29 December against Manchester United.

He registered just 22 appearances for Nuno Espirito Santo's side and his most memorable moment came in an EFL Cup game against non-league Chorley when he scored his only goal for the club with a terrific 35-yard winner.

At the end of the season, with Bruno Lange replacing Nuno, Wolves decided against signing him permanently, as whilst his technical ability was clear to see, he struggled to adapt to the intensity of the Premier League.

While he was frustrated at his lack of gametime at Wolves, in interviews since Vitinha viewed his experience in England as a learning curve and it sent him back to Porto with renewed vigour to succeed.

While he started the following season on the bench for Porto, as the campaign went on, Vitinha's role in Sergio Conceicao's team grew steadily as he consolidated his place in his preferred deep lying midfield role.

He made 47 appearances for the club as they won the Primeira Liga and the Taca de Portugal, with Vitinha scoring in the final of the cup.

He was named in the Primeira Liga Team of the Year and the Primeira Liga Best Young Player of the Year.

Vitinha's form was rewarded with a maiden senior Portugal call-up in March 2022.

The 2021-22 campaign was one of redemption and one in which Vitinha established himself as an exciting young talent, which inevitably attracted the attention of big clubs in Europe.

His time back at Porto proved to be short and sweet as in the summer of 2022 he signed a five-year contract at PSG for £34m.

The first year in France proved difficult.

While he made 48 appearances in all competitions as PSG won Ligue 1, Christophe Galtier's top-heavy team, built around Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar, did not suit the diminutive midfielder, who had to do more defensive work.

There were even reports of a training ground altercation with Messi, which Vitinha vehemently denied, but things were soon on the up once Luis Enrique took over in the summer of 2023.

With Messi and Neymar having moved on, Enrique opted for a more holistic approach and a possession-based system.

That allowed Vitinha to flourish, as he was named in the Champions League and Ligue 1 Team of the Season as the Parisians won a domestic treble and he then featured for Portugal at the 2024 Euros.

Vitinha's third season is when he truly became PSG's midfield maestro however, dictating the tempo of games and starting attacks with his superb passing range.

He completed more passes than any other player in PSG's successful Champions League run.

He also provided an assist for Desire Doue's second goal in the stunning 5-0 final win over Inter Milan.

This form has continued again this season, culminating in an impressive display against Arsenal on Saturday as PSG became just the second team to retain the Champions League trophy.

Luis Enrique, the manager who was integral to unlocking Vitinha's full potential, has said Vitinha "embodies the perfect midfielder".

That was a view shared by those who voted in the Ballon d'Or, as Vitinha came in third behind Barcelona's Yamal and team-mate Dembele.

On the international stage too, Vitinha's stature has steadily grown.

He is a consistent figure in midfield in a stacked Portugal squad who will have their eyes on challenging for the World Cup this summer.