At the start of a new year, Wolverhampton Wanderers supporters have some new hope, thanks mainly to a teenager from Portugal via Rochdale.

The optimism at Molineux does not extend to Premier League survival when the season ends in May. That prospect still sits somewhere between remote and nonexistent.

But Mateus Mane, the 18-year-old who bagged a spectacular first Premier League goal on Saturday to help end a depressing winless run, has fans believing they might at least have a homegrown star to get behind in 2026.

Just three starts into his Premier League career, the forward looks like the real deal. And supporters concerned already about losing him in the transfer market can take comfort from the fact Mane is contracted to Wolves until 2029.

Wolves revealed in July that their academy forward had signed his first professional deal, but Football Association rules on contract lengths for under-18s meant that initial agreement ran only until the conclusion of next season.

What subsequently went unannounced is that Wolves tied the talented forward down to an extended deal, on improved terms, when he turned 18 on September 16, so at the end of this season, he will still have three years remaining at Molineux, with the possibility of further offers if he continues to impress.

After impressive outings last month at the two great cathedrals of English club football, Anfield and Old Trafford, Mane was handed a first league start at Molineux against third-bottom West Ham and responded with a spectacular first senior goal, receiving a pass from Hugo Bueno, spinning away from Soungoutou Magassa and showing the confidence to blast a low shot past Alphonse Areola in the West Ham goal.

“He topped off his performance with a brilliant goal, but it was another really brave performance, another selfless performance,” said Wolves head coach Rob Edwards in his post-match press conference following the 3-0 win. “He’s 18, but he’s almost like a little bit of a leader there as well, because he’s rubbing off on people with his energy, his enthusiasm. I think it’s infectious.

“He’s a really bright talent and someone that we should be really excited about, but at the same time we just want to try to look after him. He’s got to keep his feet on the floor, which I know he will do. He’s got a good head on his shoulders, but at 18, to be doing what he’s doing at the moment is really impressive.

“It is an incredible achievement for him, but I think he’s got a lot more to go because he’s 18 and we’re going to see that physically he’s going to continue to get better. What I love is his intelligence, his enthusiasm, his bravery… and obviously his technical quality is very good as well.

“So he’s ticking a lot of the boxes, he really is. If you think of the three games that he’s played at Anfield, Old Trafford, and been really, really good, and then here at home today in a difficult, big game; a really big game.

“This has been a difficult place to play and he’s not showing that, so I think he’s got sort of a big-game mentality as well.”

For Wolves’ academy, Mane’s goal yesterday was a moment of pride, with the teenager widely regarded as the most exciting player to rise through the old-gold ranks since Morgan Gibbs-White, who has gone on to star for Nottingham Forest and play for England since leaving Molineux three and a half years ago.

Mane’s journey to the Premier League has been different to that of Gibbs-White, who joined the club at the age of eight and stayed for 14 years.

“It’s amazing, the fans singing my name and having our backs. Even when we haven’t been performing, they were behind us.”

A word from Mateus Mane 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/8XJGI3vh0Z

— Wolves (@Wolves) January 3, 2026

Mane, by contrast, did not arrive until he was 16.

He was born in Portugal, moved to Manchester with his family at the age of eight and, after a brief stint with Manchester City’s academy, signed for the youth programme at nearby fifth-tier club Rochdale.

Against West Ham, Wolves fans finally saw a win this season (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Wolves signed him from Rochdale almost two years ago, and since then he has been regarded as one of the brightest prospects at the club, already leapfrogging fellow academy graduate Tawanda Chirewa in the pecking order.

And at the age of 18 years and 109 days, Mane became Wolves’ youngest ever goalscorer in a Premier League match as Edwards recorded his first victory in charge and the club ended a dismal run of 23 league games without a victory.

His 41st-minute goal added to their advantage after Jhon Arias’ first in the Premier League had ended Wolves’ run of 12 games without even being in the lead — the third worst spell of that type in Premier League history — and Hwang Hee-chan had made it 2-0 from the penalty spot just past the half-hour.

Mane had already played a role in the first two goals, producing a key pass to release Hwang to cross for Arias before winning the penalty from which the South Korean doubled the lead.

For Mane, greater challenges will lie ahead — the need for consistency in the top level, responding to the dip in form that teenage players tend to experience, handling the extra attention and scrutiny that will now come his way, and almost certainly adapting to the relentless nature of the Championship, the second-tier division Wolves already seem certain to be part of next season.

He also has a potentially big decision to come in his longer-term future, with both Portugal and England keen to tie him down to their international programmes.

But all of that can wait.

For now, after eight months of almost unbroken misery for Wolves supporters, Mane has provided a much-needed beacon of hope.