Mosquera is playing and training on the edge – he will have to be careful

Wolves’ pre-season trip to Spain in the summer of 2022 was an eventful one for Yerson Mosquera.

There was the ‘Battle of Benidorm’, in which he, team-mate Daniel Podence and two Levante players were sent off as a practice match at the grounds of Wolves’ posh hotel in the hills north of the popular resort descended into chaos and near-desertion.

But for the staff and team-mates, Mosquera’s most memorable moment of the trip came not so much in the grumpy encounter with the La Liga opponent, but in the players’ dining room, where his samba dancing proved a huge hit.

That training camp was a perfect example of the personality the wider Premier League audience began to see last weekend, when Mosquera, among others, captured global attention during his long-awaited competitive debut for Wolves.

Since first signing for the Molineux club in the summer of 2021, the Colombian international has become a regular fixture.

Apart from his spells out on loan over the past 18 months, Mosquera has filled the corridors of the Compton Park training complex with his loud voice, laugh, seemingly permanent smile and penchant for impressing.

All of this has made him a popular figure among colleagues and fans, despite having to wait until the opening game of this season to make his first Premier League appearance.

And when he travelled to Spain two summers ago to make his first major move into the first team, he caused quite a stir by skipping the traditional singing performance players are required to put on during their first away game, opting instead for an elaborate dance routine.

Since then, Wolves’ media team have asked him to reiterate his actions, but it has rarely required much persuasion.

Yet there is another aspect to Mosquera’s personality that sets him apart: he is a central defender who plays and trains on the edge.

The red card for responding to a late foul with an attempted punch during what should have been no more than a training match that day in Benidorm two years ago was a sign of a player who is never far from losing his cool.

It is a quality Wolves are well aware of. They knew what they were getting when head coach Gary O’Neil decided that Saturday’s season-opening visit to Arsenal was the time to give Mosquera his chance.

And the competitive spirit that led the South American to take on Arsenal’s Kai Havertz and then cause controversy by dragging striker Gabriel Jesus out of the way of a Wolves free-kick by placing his hand on his right buttock is, according to his bosses at Molineux, a key part of his overall character.

While O’Neil will be in constant communication with Mosquera to ensure his actions do not cross any lines and harm his team, there are no plans to lecture him or curb his fiery behavior too much after Saturday.

His loan spells have helped smooth out some of the rough edges of his approach, including some early overconfidence during his 2023 MLS stint with FC Cincinnati, which helped guide the club to the semi-finals of the title-clinching play-offs.

“He’s an elite talent,” Cincinnati manager Pat Noonan said in May 2013. “And he was also very immature when he came in, way too comfortable in the first couple weeks talking (too much).

“We thought, ‘Hey man, you’ve been here a week. Calm down, get to know your teammates. Make them respect you before you go complain to Alvas Powell, the veteran, about something he did wrong, or they’ll eat you up.’

“I think he’s grown a lot. He just needs some TLC.”

Yerson Mosquera enjoyed successful spells in MLS and La Liga (Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

That successful spell in the US was followed by an equally promising spell in Spain’s La Liga with Villarreal in the second half of last season. He made 16 appearances, scored two goals and helped his team to an eighth-place finish. Villarreal were keen to keep him, but Wolves’ plan was always to promote him to the first team for their 2024-25 campaign.

While the club expect Mosquera to receive yellow cards for his combative style of play, they are encouraged that Mosquera has only received four yellow cards in La Liga and that there have been no controversies.

For Wolves, Saturday was the culmination of a three-year process to take Mosquera from talented but inexperienced overseas signing to starting Premier League defender. He has emerged as a potential flag-bearer for a loans department that has grown in recent years and is now led by former Wigan Athletic defender Matt Jackson and former Wolves interim manager Steve Davis.

His first 18 months at Molineux saw him play for the under-21s, appear in the Carabao Cup and suffer through frustrating hamstring problems, before two loan spells gave him a taste of first-team football.

O’Neil is keen to see Wolves evolve into a front-foot, pressing style of play in his second season in charge. Mosquera’s strengths, particularly his ability to cover ground behind a high defensive line, could prove crucial.

“He’s been key to our success with the way he defends the box, his aerial duels and his recovery,” Noonan added of Cincinnati last year. “He’s allowed us to have an aggressive approach with our back line because he’s elite in his recovery — he’s as good as anyone I’ve ever seen. And so I think that plays to his strengths as well.

“So hopefully he continues to mature and grow. He should be playing in a top-five league.”

(Top photo: Stuart MacFarlane/Getty Images)