His progress may have stalled temporarily but given time and patience, he’ll emerge again

What was encouraging was the second-half performance of Mateus Mane; fair to say his impact so far has barely matched the performances of last season. Paradoxically, a better player in the Premier League than in the Championship.

Isolated on the wide left, he has looked a peripheral figure, a touch lightweight, hustled off the ball by more vigorous defenders, becoming frustrated, desperate to contribute, leading to erratic distribution and speculative pot-shots from distance rarely causing a ripple of concern for the opposition.

Defensively, his tracking-back is not the strongest heaping extra pressure on Hugo Bueno who himself is not finding the transition to Championship physicality at all straightforward. Our left flank potentially vulnerable to swift counter-attack.

Easy to dismiss, but Mane has only just turned 19, he is still learning some of the rudiments of the professional game and still developing the durability required at this level.

A plateauing of performance was inevitable after his mercurial introduction to the team last season.

His skill and his inhibition created genuine interest from a wide spectrum of admirers sparking speculation about his future as he rapidly became the club’s most saleable asset.

Ultimately, he remained at Molineux with many observers unrealistically expecting him to take the Championship by storm.

Unsurprisingly, he hasn’t been rampaging effortlessly through opposition defences but the innate skills that shone so vigorously in the Premier League remain very much intact.

What he achieved last season playing in a desperately failing team was outstanding; in a wretched campaign for the supporters to endure, he shone like a beacon.

He provided just about the only spark of inspiration throughout a campaign of sustained, dismal misery.

Quite a burden for an inexperienced youngster to shoulder. But he grasped his opportunity and excelled without inhibition, revealing a natural spontaneity, a subtlety of mind and technique with a mature awareness of everything developing around him on the pitch.

The 45 minutes against Watford weren’t seismic, not by any stretch but more a consolidating reminder of the kind of ability Mane can offer.

He won’t be regularly facing-up opposition wing-backs, twisting them in different directions before breezing past them like a modern- day Dave Wagstaffe, but the scope for improvement in this guy remains boundless.

He’s no flash in the pan; his progress may have stalled temporarily but given time and patience, he’ll emerge again as a significantly influential performer.