Why Wolves should avoid offloading Patrick Cutrone in January
According to Tuttosport (h/t Birmingham Live), Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo has given the green light for striker Patrick Cutrone to seek an exit from Molineux during the January transfer window.
The 21-year-old, who only arrived at the Black Country outfit from AC Milan for a fee of £16million this past summer, has struggled to match the performances demanded by Nuno Santo.
As per the report, Cutrone has emerged as a top target for Serie A outfit Torino, who are preparing for life without star man Simone Zaza, who been identified as a replacement for Andrea Petagna at SPAL. Hence, Cutrone’s exit from Molineux in January could possibly spark a three-way transfer merry-go-round.
A youth exponent of AC Milan, Cutrone made his senior professional bow for the Rossoneri during the 2016-17 campaign but it was in the following season that he enjoyed his breakthrough in Italian football.
The 21-year-old plundered as many as 18 goals in all competitions for Milan during the 2017-18 campaign and chipped in with a further nine last term, despite only playing a bit-part role under former manager Gennaro Gattuso at the San Siro.
An overall tally of 27 goals in 90 appearances was enough to warrant a move to the Premier League with Wolves this past summer but things haven’t really clicked for the highly-rated Italian at Molineux, with Cutrone only managing 3 goals and 4 assists in 24 outings across all competitions so far this season.
The 1-cap Italian international has failed to make a big impact at Molineux that the fans would have hoped for following his summer switch from Milan, and his struggles in acclimatizing to life in the Midlands apparently haven’t gone down well with Nuno Santo, who seems prepared to wield the axe on the youngster.
To put things into perspective, it is true that Patrick Cutrone is yet to hit the ground running in the Premier League but offloading him as early as in January might not be the right course of action, given that he only came through the door in the summer as a fine young striker with loads of potential.
Keeping in mind the obvious cultural and climatic differences, as well as a completely different style of football prevalent in England as compared to Italy, it is hard for any player coming from the Serie A to start delivering the goods immediately in the Premier League, and the period of acclimatization can be a bit longer when it comes to youngsters.
To that end, Cutrone has really been all that disappointing and has already shown glimpses of his obvious poaching skills that made him a fine striking prospect in the Serie A.
In fairness to him, the 21-year-old has clocked up 24 appearances for Wolves so far, but a lion share of his involvement has come as substitute cameos off the bench and playing a bit-part role has undoubtedly made it all the more difficult for him to get to grips with the English game.
With Raul Jimenez continuing to fire on all cylinders and Diogo Jota the preferred partner for the Mexican up top, Cutrone has been limited to only 3 starts in the Premier League so far, playing a meagre 295 minutes of league football.
Hence, it would be unfair to make a call on his future based on such limited playtime and it is a no-brainer that Cutrone certainly deserves more opportunities, preferably as a starter, to prove his worth in English football.
Verdict
There is every chance that Cutrone would gradually settle down should he be provided with enough opportunities in the Premier League.
Plus, Wolves already have a small and tight-knit squad as compared to most of the other top sides in the Premier League, and the challenge of competing on multiple fronts in the second half of the season would only become more daunting if they end up sanctioning a departure for Cutrone.
With fixtures set to come thick and fast and Wolves preparing to compete in the knockout stages of the Europa League, Nuno Santo will need adequate depth in all departments to achieve his objectives and Patrick Cutrone offers something different to the likes of Jimenez and Jota up top.
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Suffice to say, Wolves cashing in on the Italian starlet in January would simply be a hasty decision and one that could possibly be detrimental to their chances of excelling on all fronts during a busy second half of the campaign.
