Wolverhampton Wanderers’ newest marquee signing Andre was one of Brazil’s better players on Tuesday evening in their stunning 1-0 loss to Paraguay in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers – but the Molineux star was ‘left without a role’ as he made his seventh cap for the South America behemoth.
Andre had already garnered five caps for Brazil prior to his Premier League move from Serie A side Fluminense on transfer deadline day, and despite only having one match to impress in the English top-flight against Nottingham Forest, he was whisked away for international duty by head coach Dorival Junior for games against Ecuador and Paraguay.
Brazilian Media Praise Andre For Paraguay Performance
The midfielder was solid and it wasn’t his fault they lost away from home
Featuring – and being praised – for his 85-minute performance in the home win over Ecuador on Friday, Andre was trusted to start again in Asuncion.
| Andre’s Brazil national team statistics – result in order of caps made | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fixture | Minutes Played | Final Score |
| Senegal (away), 20/06/23 | 16 | 4-2, loss |
| Venezuela (home), 13/10/23 | 11 | 1-1, draw |
| Colombia (away), 17/11/23 | 90 | 2-1, loss |
| Argentina (home), 22/11/23 | 90 | 1-0, loss |
| Spain (away), 26/03/24 | 45 | 3-3, draw |
| Ecuador (home), 06/09/24 | 85 | 1-0, win |
| Paraguay (away), 10/09/24 | 90 | 1-0, loss |
But despite a shock 1-0 loss, the £21million signing gained merit for his outing from Brazilian outlet ‘ge.globo’, who sympathised with him for being ‘left without a role’ for the entire game.
Writing a tough ratings report for their national team, the report stated that Andre was one of Brazil’s better players – though he played ‘little part’ in the game as their attacking stars dominated possession, but couldn’t do much with the ball as they fell to a surprise defeat. The report on Andre read:
“It’s hard to even make a fair assessment of a player who was practically left without a role as the game unfolded.
“As Paraguay dropped their lines and waited for Brazil, the expectation was that the defenders would speed up the ball out so that the team could build up a more aggressive phase, but it ended up being André who had to drop back to try to play this role.
“He was solid in defensive transition, he occupied the spaces well, but the reality is that he played little part in the game.”
Andre is Just What Wolves Needed in Midfield
The Brazilian has finally replaced the void left by previous exits
Wolves were massively in need of a new central midfielder having lost plenty of stars in the engine room over the past two years.
Matheus Nunes, Joao Moutinho and Ruben Neves’ departures to Manchester City, Braga and Al-Hilal respectively last season saw them fail to excuse their usual quality in the centre of the park, and having only replaced the Portuguese trio with Ligue 1 duo Boubacar Traore and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde last summer, they weren’t the superstar replacements Wolves fans desired.
Tommy Doyle’s loan-to-buy move from City was confirmed earlier in the summer, but Wolves were still lacking in the centre of the park – and so Andre coming in to partner compatriot Joao Gomes and Gabonese star Mario Lemina in the centre of the park was a huge coup for Gary O’Neil, who finally has an abundance of quality in midfield once again.
At just 23 years of age, Andre has already amassed 197 appearances for Fluminense in all competitions. This, alongside his seven caps for Brazil, will give Wolves chiefs hope that they can either keep him in their ranks for a long time or pick up a huge fee for his services in the future that would ease some financial burden on the club.
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