The 17-year-old, who has taken on the captaincy duties of the under-18s in recent weeks, has already made his senior debut this season when he appeared as a second-half substitute in the penalty shootout victory over Reading in the Carabao Cup.
Cundle was also part of the senior squad which travelled to Shanghai in the summer, coming off the bench in both of Wolves’ successful Premier League Asia Trophy matches as the side beat Manchester City in the final. The talented midfielder is returning to China this week to take part in the Zibo Cup with the under-18s.
Head of Academy, Scott Sellars, admitted it was an easy decision for the club to offer Cundle his first professional deal. “Luke’s done really well, especially over the last six months,” Sellars said. “He’s had time with the first-team, playing in the Asia Trophy and making his debut in the Carabao Cup.
“It’s fantastic for the young players at the club that Nuno has belief in them. For him to put Luke on in a cup tie when they are only 1-0 up shows the confidence the manager has in Luke, as well as his ability and intelligence, as he knows he can do what he wants him to do.
“From our point of view, he’s obviously a talented boy; someone we’ve had here at Wolves for a long time and we’ve been nurturing.
“He’s still developing, but we’ve all seen his talent and his intelligence, and we’re really pleased that all the patience and belief in Luke is starting to see fruition. Over the last six months we’ve really started to see Luke change and mature physically and he demonstrates this by dominating in midfield during the under-18 games.
“He made his debut for the under-23s last week at Stratford and put in a very good performance, so over the next few months we will expect him to progress from the under-18s and push for a regular place in the under-23s.”
