Matheus Cunha didn’t score on his Manchester United debut but it went a lot smoother than the last player to have joined the club from Wolves.

The Brazilian international had his unofficial debut for the Red Devils during their pre-season opener against Leeds on Saturday, featuring in the first 45 minutes of the scoreless draw.

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Cunha remains United’s only new arrival this summer after the club triggered his £62.5million release clause from Wolves.

The Brazilian has become the first senior player in over five decades to make the switch from Molineux to Old Trafford.

Darren Ferguson and Denis Irwin have both moved in the opposite direction, but the Red Devils rarely poach Wolves’ top talent.

Jim McCalliog was the last to be recruited for the first team from the Black Country side on transfer-deadline day in March 1974.

However, Daniel Nardiello did leave Wolves’ youth ranks to head to Man United’s academy in 1999.

The son of ex-Wales international Donato, the Coventry-born star played for the FA’s School of Excellence at Lilleshall at age 14.

United beat out their rivals to win the race for Nardiello’s signature, but were ordered to pay Wolves £200,000 in compensation.

Wolves’ former chief executive Jez Moxey said, as per the BBC: “I am delighted with the verdict of the tribunal.

“I trust this communicates a clear statement to the larger clubs that they cannot simply pluck the exceptional young talents being nurtured at Wolves without facing major financial repercussions.”

A ruling from the Football League Appeals Committee determined that the West Midlands club should receive additional payments of £150k each time the forward reaches five, fifteen, 25, and 40 appearances for the first team.

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A further £250,000 would have been owed if Nardiello played in a UEFA or FIFA competitive international fixture.

Ex-Wolves Academy director, Chris Evans, described Nardiello as the ‘jewel in the crown’ of their schoolboy development programme.

Despite welcoming the Football League Appeals Committee ruling, he also shared his belief that United may still have got a bargain.

Unfortunately for both the club and the player, that didn’t prove to be true, with Nardiello making just four first-team appearances.

The first of which came as a just-turned 19-year-old substitute in a humbling 4-0 defeat at Arsenal on Monday, November 5, 2001.

Following a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool a day earlier, only Dwight Yorke was included by Sir Alex Ferguson in the League Cup third round.

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“Don’t get me wrong, looking back at it now, from a 40-year-old’s perspective, it’s something I’m extremely proud of that I managed to do, not many people manage to pull on that shirt and represent Manchester United’s first team”, Nardiello told the Manchester Evening News last year.

“So it’s something I look back on with real pride.

“At the time, I was an 18-year-old kid and you sort of just take it in your stride at that age, so I didn’t really realise the achievement of playing for Manchester United’s first team until my older age and when I retired.

“I was a confident young lad and I had confidence in myself to be playing football at the highest level, so it [his debut] just seemed like the next step in my development, and to do it at Arsenal at Highbury is something I am really proud of and something I am glad I wasn’t nervous about at the time.”

Nardiello later came on in a Champions League tie at Maccabi Haifa, and even started a League Cup win against Leicester at Old Trafford.

He fronted a three-pronged attack alongside Diego Forlan and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, with David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, and Gary Neville all named in the starting XI.

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“It was great starting a game and again there were no nerves or anything like that, it was just a case of trying to do as well as I could on the day,” Nardiello added.

“Looking back now and looking at the starting line-up from that game, it was a really strong starting XI, with me being probably the weakest link in the starting XI.

“It was great that Sir Alex had the confidence to put me in and to say I’ve played alongside those lads, although I did it in training and a few reserve team matches, it was amazing and something I look back on with pride.”

Nardiello’s final appearance for United saw him replace Cristiano Ronaldo during a shock 2-0 defeat to West Brom in the 2003/04 Carling Cup, in what was the five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s first outing in the competition.

After impressing on loan, Nardiello joined Barnsley on a permanent deal in 2004 following his Old Trafford release.

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The three-cap Welshman then enjoyed a journeyman career around the EFL, including stints at QPR, Blackpool, and Bury, before retiring at Bangor City in 2017.

Unlike Cunha, Nardiello has admitted to sometimes wondering what might have happened had he stayed at Molineux all those years ago.

“As I said I loved my short time at Wolves as a youth team player and will always want them to do well especially still having so many friends in the area,” he told the Wolves former players association.

“But I also loved going to United, all the experiences I had there, and the career that followed afterwards.

“Sometimes you can think about it and wonder how things might have turned out differently but ultimately there isn’t too much point looking back too much.

“It’s one of those things both in football and in life, that you make the decision which you think is best and then stand by it.”