Matheus Santos Carneiro da Cunha was born on 27 May 1999 in João Pessoa, Brazil. He began in futsal before switching to football with Coritiba's youth ranks, and made his first move to Europe at 18 when Swiss club Sion signed him in July 2017. After a productive spell there, RB Leipzig brought him to the Bundesliga in June 2018, where he scored a goal against Bayer Leverkusen that earned a FIFA Puskás Award nomination.
He moved to Hertha BSC in January 2020, then joined Atlético Madrid in August 2021 for a reported €30 million. In January 2023 he arrived at Wolverhampton Wanderers on loan, a deal that turned permanent that summer. At Wolves he developed into one of the Premier League's more consistent attackers — notably scoring a hat-trick at Stamford Bridge in February 2024 — and finished the 2024–25 season as the club's top scorer with 15 league goals, earning the Players' Player of the Season award.
On the international stage, Cunha won a gold medal with Brazil's under-23 side at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, contributing three goals across five appearances. He made his senior debut for Brazil in September 2021 in a World Cup qualifier against Chile.
A versatile, creative forward comfortable as a centre-forward, attacking midfielder, or wide forward, Cunha joined Manchester United on a five-year deal in August 2025 for a reported £62.5 million, with the club looking to him as a primary source of goals in attack.