When Vitinha scored his only goal in English football, the official presence was zero and the opposition was the sixth level Chorley. On Saturday there will be 70,000 in Munich and hundreds of millions look at while he plays in the Champions League final.
It remains a curiosity that the Portuguese playmaker, Paris Saint-Germain’s Prompter-in-Chef, so at home under the Glamor of Paris, spent a different unobtrusive season in Wolverhampton during a pandemic. He only made five Premier League Start.
But there was That FA Cup goal, beaten from 30 meters. The then Captain Conor coady of Wolves was just behind it. “It was one that you think about,” don’t shoot, “says Coady Sky Sports. “He was miles out. But the ball has just moved and waved and all this stuff.”
The way of the strike – it turned out to be the winner – means that Vitinha has at least one cherished memory of his time in England. Since then he has said that despite his frustrations about a lack of playing time, he would not change experience. It was character structure.
“When we appeared at Chorley, we got out of the bus and we had to walk through a park to go into the ground, all these things,” coady recalls. There was not even room in the dressing room for the entire team. The Subs had to change in the sponsorslounge.
“It was brilliant. I thought it was great. It was a great game for people who don’t come from this country to understand what the cup is about. I think it opened the eyes of many people, because we clearly had quite a lot of Portuguese boys, players from many different countries.
“Sometimes those games are the most difficult matches because Premier League players can be swallowed a bit, cannot get on the ball as they want. But he did it. He received the ball in tight areas. You understood what he was about that day.”
Vitinha’s passing networks for Paris Saint-Germain in this season’s Champions League
Everyone understands what Vitinha is about nowadays. He has completed more passes in the Champions League of this season than any other player, who checks the pace for PSG. It is not a big surprise for coady. “We saw that in training every day, size.”
The wider world had only received a glimpse of Vitinha’s gifts at the time. He had not even started a competition match for Porto prior to his arrival on loan at Wolves. But COADY remembers that the quality that Vitinha showed in those sessions, including one unusual feature.
“I loved the way he took a lot of touches. He was always at the ball. In our country you are always told as children to move the ball quickly, don’t you pass and move. Suddenly we had this child from Portugal who just took a lot of touches but never lost it.
“In the training he was great. Every day. When you played him in Five-a-Side, he was incredible. And what you see for PSG is now what he was when he was at Wolves. We see it all now, we all experience it, but then he didn’t really play.”
The problem that Vitinha had was similar to the problem that Morgan Gibbs-White was confronted at that time, another who has grown from Molineux since then. The midfield positions were held by Joao Moutinho and Ruben Neves, demonstrably the best players of Wolves.
“Listen, we always knew that he was a top player. The problem was that Moutinho and Neves were ahead of him.” Vitinha only made two starts in the Premier League before May, both in a more advanced role in addition to that DUO, one that did not necessarily suit him.
By the time he started that trio late in the season, the dice was cast. Nuno Espirito Santo still believed in Vitinha, but the coach himself continued that summer and his replacement Bruno Lage was not that certain. Moreover, Vitinha was impatient for more.
“You always knew that he was on the play. Sometimes, young midfielders who come by and players such as Moutinho and Neves have for them, they just continue with the thought that their time will come. He was standing to play, desperate.
“It was important for someone like me, like the other boys in the dressing room, Joao and Ruben, just to keep him going. I am still the same now, whether you are a captain or that you are not, you try to make people feel welcome. And we did.
“But he was never a bad person to have in the neighborhood. He is a great example for others. It was so difficult for him at Wolves because you had two incredible players for him and he was clear but a young boy. But just look at what he is doing now.”
What he is doing now is amazing. His PSG coach Luis Enrique has said that Vitinha is the best in the world in his position, while the Great Thierry Henry went beyond that, claiming that the midfielder plays a different sport than everyone else.
“That midfield that PSG has, that team that PSG has, with the way he plays, it fits him on the floor,” coady explains. “He has an incredible manager in Luis Enrique and I think we see the best of him. And listen, he will get better.”
Coady points to his stable family life – “He has settled very quickly, he has children at a young age” – and a dedication to his profession. This is a player who is exceptional on the ball, but has still won the ball back in the middle third part, more than anyone.
On Saturday, the 25-year-old Portugal International can end his season with a Maiden Champions League triumph for him and for his club. If PSG does it, Vitinha will undoubtedly have been instrumental. And it will be a moment for him to think about his journey to get there.
A Porto product, his transfer to Paris Saint-Germain has clearly increased its game. But maybe he will also remember his season in the Premier League. Far from the highlight of his career, but still an important step. From Chorley to the Champions League.
“I think he would say it was a really valuable experience. Let’s be honest, come to the Premier League at such a young age, regardless of who you are, it will be a huge experience for you. But I think he would look back on it now with good memories.
“It’s just a shame, really, because that goal against Chorley was the most that Vitinha’s Wolves fans saw in a game situation. But we all knew it at the time – he’s a remarkable football player. And I love to see him now.” Coady is certainly not alone in that.
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