Vitinha: Portugal star's rise from Wolves struggles to finishing third in Ballon d'Or

It has been a glorious 2025 for Portugal and Paris St-Germain midfielder Vitinha.

The 25-year-old was integral for his club side as they won a treble including a maiden Champions League title.

He then helped Portugal win the Nations League, scoring in the shootout as they beat Spain on penalties in the final.

To cap off a successful spells, he was voted as the third best player in the world behind Ousmane Dembele and Lamine Yamal at the Ballon d'Or ceremony.

Vitinha is now regarded as one of the best midfielders in the world and he is expected to be part of Portugal's line-up for Saturday's World Cup qualifier against the Republic of Ireland.

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 four 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 Town 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.

Luis Enrique, the manager who was integral to unlocking Vitinha's full potential, said earlier this year that 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 teammate Dembele.

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

He has won 31 caps and is a consistent figure in midfield in a stacked Portugal squad who will have their eyes on challenging for the World Cup next year.

They sit top of their qualifying group with maximum points from their first two games ahead of home fixtures against Republic of Ireland and Hungary this month.

Vitinha's success for club and country in 2025 caps a remarkable turnaround for a player that failed to make an impact at Wolves just a few years ago.

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