Wolverhampton Wanderers have enjoyed a solid debut season under the management of Gary O’Neil as the former Bournemouth boss has the Old Gold in a wonderful position to claim a top half finish in the Premier League.
Add to that a first FA Cup quarter-final since 2019, and it is evident whatever he is doing is working wonders this term.
The team spirit has been excellent and O’Neil has a core group of players he can work with in order to secure the club their highest league finish since they achieved a seventh-placed finish in the 2019/20 season under Nuno Espírito Santo.
Their attacking options have been key to this revival, as in previous seasons, certain players failed to pull their weight, including the likes of Diego Costa, Fabio Silva, and Raul Jimenez.
This term, however, Hwang Hee-Chan, Matheus Cunha and Pedro Neto have been exceptional.
Record of Wolves' forwards in 23/24
Between them this season, the aforementioned attacking trio have contributed 25 goals across all competitions, while in the Premier League, they have registered 18 assists, and it is clear that when fit, all three need to be starting for Wolves.
Since the start of the 2020/21 season, the club have struggled in the final third. Indeed, over the previous three campaigns, the Old Gold have scored just 36, 38 and 31 goals, ranking them in the bottom five teams in the table in each of those seasons.
Throughout 2023/24, O’Neil’s men have already netted 42 goals and with ten matches still to come, this will no doubt increase rapidly before the end of the term.
What a difference it makes to have reliable forwards who are effective in front of goal, and it makes up for the dismal players the club have signed since they were promoted to the top flight in 2018.
One name is arguably worse than the rest, especially considering how much was paid to sign him – Patrick Cutrone.
How much Patrick Cutrone cost Wolves
Santo led Wolves to a stunning seventh-place finish in their first season back in the Premier League during 2018/19, and he was looking to consolidate this with some quality signings that summer.
Jimenez, Neto and Leander Dendoncker were all new signings during the transfer window, but it was the capture of Cutrone which looked like the most exciting of the lot.
The Italian had been a regular for AC Milan during the previous two years and had scored 27 goals for the Serie A club in 90 appearances, hardly prolific by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a decent strike rate.
Clubs
Games
Goals
AC Milan
90
27
Como
59
19
Fiorentina
34
5
Empoli
31
3
Wolves
28
3
Valencia
7
0
Nuno decided to splash out £23m in order to secure his services ahead of their second season back in the top division and while it was an expensive deal, judging by his record in Italy, it looked like a shrewd one.
"Patrick is an exciting signing at a very exciting period for this football club,” said sporting director Kevin Thelwell, while he added that the club felt Cutrone “perfectly fits into our philosophy” as they looked ahead to a new season.
It soon became apparent that the lavish sum spent on the striker was going to be a waste of money, as he failed to settle in the Midlands.
Patrick Cutrone’s statistics at Wolves
Cutrone registered three assists during Wolves’ Europa League qualifiers, but it took him until mid-September to notch his first goal for the club, scoring against Chelsea in the Premier League.
The striker would only go on to score another two goals for the Old Gold during the first half of the season, before spending the rest of the term out on loan back in his homeland with Fiorentina.
Cutrone made only another four goalless appearances for Wolves during 2020/21, before sealing another temporary switch, this time joining Valencia in January 2021.
He finally departed for good in the summer of 2022, moving to Como 1907, and he later blamed Santo for his struggles in the Midlands, claiming that the former manager was “fixated” on playing his favourites, indicating that is why he played so little, and he also claimed that he “had to leave” the club after barely playing.
During his three-year spell at the Old Gold, Cutrone cost them a pretty penny and it would be yet another waste of money by the club on a player who promised so much upon his arrival in England.
How much Patrick Cutrone cost Wolves
Not only did Cutrone cost Wolves a staggering £23m back in 2019, but he was also earning £63k-per-week in wages at the club, which placed him as their fourth-highest earner during the 2019/20 season.
The striker only spent around 29 weeks at the club due to his various loan spells, which meant he took home £1.8m in wages across his three years from the Molineux side.
Add this to his transfer fee and Cutrone cost the Midlands side a grand total of £24.8m during his spell in the Premier League, an eye-watering sum, especially considering how poor his record was in front of goal.
Cutrone only managed to find the back of the net on three occasions during his stint in England and this meant he cost the club roughly £8.2m per goal.
What a waste of money for a player who could have shone in the top flight had he been given more opportunities to demonstrate his talents in front of goal.
Various managers after Santo have made their own mistakes in the transfer window, but O’Neil looks as though he will be avoiding splashing lavish sums such as this in order to improve his squad.
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There are plenty of sellable assets at the club which he could move on in the summer to register major profits and this in turn could see him strengthen in the summer.
The signing of Cutrone proves that splashing big on players from the continent can often backfire and end up costing the buying club millions for a woeful return in front of goal.