Goncalo Guedes' form with Valencia last season made him seem like a shoo-in for Portugal's World Cup squad but his woeful performances for Wolverhampton Wanderers have cost him a spot on the plane to Qatar.

The former Paris Saint-Germain winger enjoyed a superb campaign in La Liga with Valencia, hitting 11 goals and six assists in Spain's top flight, averaging a strong 6.99 rating from WhoScored for his performances.

Guedes looked likely to be the next Portuguese name to succeed at Molineux after completing a £27.5m switch to the Premier League but his form so far this season has been very disappointing, and it was no surprise to see him miss out on Fernando Santos' squad for Qatar.

While Jose Sa, Ruben Neves and fellow summer signing Matheus Nunes would make the cut, the likes of Nelson Semedo, Joao Moutinho, Daniel Podence and Guedes all missed out as a result of the Old Gold's less-than-impressive form in the Premier League.

Guedes has earned 32 caps for his country and scored seven goals, and was in recent squads for World Cup qualification and the UEFA Nations League, so it is only after his move to Wolves that he lost his regular spot.

While Wolves' poor form has been a big factor in that, the 25-year-old certainly hasn't lived up to expectations and has failed to step up in the absence of fellow goalscorers Raul Jimenez, Sasa Kalajdzic and Pedro Neto, only scoring his first goal for the club in the 3-2 defeat against Brighton last weekend.

Guedes' shocking WhoScored average rating of 6.36 in the Premier League ranks him as the 16th-best performer in an already poor squad, so he certainly must look at himself when considering the reasons why he missed out on a World Cup spot.

The speedy winger, who was tipped to be "absolutely fantastic" by talkSPORT journalist Andy Brassell, may well be regretting his switch to Molineux, as it seems safe to assume that he would have made the squad had he remained at Valencia and maintained his strong form from the 2021/22 campaign.

Hopefully, for Wolves, Guedes will have a point to prove after the World Cup and can play a big part as Julen Lopetegui's side look to avoid relegation from the top flight.