Wolves have suffered a terrible start to the 2024/25 season, with just one point to show for their efforts.
Gary O’Neil’s side are currently on a five-game losing streak, having picked up just one point from their opening eight Premier League games.
As a result, the Old Gold sit bottom of the table, with form needing to be found quickly for the sake of O’Neil’s job and Wolves’ season.
It’s somewhat of a surprise to see the Midlands club at the bottom of the table, given the successes that O’Neil and Matt Hobbs struck during the summer.
Jorgen Strand Larsen backed to be Wolves’ Raul Jimenez replacement
From an impressive pre-season to making moves in the summer transfer window, O’Neil would have entered the campaign with some confidence.
Aside from being unable to secure a new centre-back, the Englishman replenished his squad where he could, most notably in the number nine role.
Wolves signed Jorgen Strand Larsen on an initial loan from Celta Vigo, with the 24-year-old proving to be a hit early into his Molineux career.
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The Old Gold were crying out for a reliable figure in the box, which journalist Liam Keen alluded to on The Keen & Judah Show.
While Keen celebrated the importance of Strand Larsen, the Express and Star reporter gave O’Neil two pointers on how to get the most out of Wolves’ new number nine.
“Wolves need to utilise crossing a bit more with the kind of player and stature and size that he is.
“Getting Cunha closer to him and linking up and finding space, it’s going to be really important. Ait-Nouri, getting close to someone like Strand Larsen is pretty fruitful as well.”
Getting his teammates closer to him going forward, and playing to the 6 foot 4 striker’s strengths is crucial for the Old Gold, with a claim made over the goalscorer’s role with reference to Raul Jimenez.
“Wolves needed this number nine signing, we’ve seen other players like Raul Jimenez be fantastic at Wolves, we’ve seen how they’ve really struggled to replace him.
“Wolves never did anything to replace that out-and-out number nine, someone who’s in between the posts, someone who makes runs, someone who scores goals, Larsen is that and they’re starting to get the benefits of it.
“That’s why I think with time and with changes, we’ll see even more of that over time. He’s going to be very integral.”
How close can Strand Larsen get to Jimenez?
The prospect of having another Jimenez at Molineux would be a dream come true for Wolves although, everyone is aware that the Mexican is irreplaceable.
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That being said, Strand Larsen’s start to life at Wolves is currently on a stronger scoring path than Jimenez, who scored twice in his debut eight games in the Premier League, with the Norweigan on three at that point this term.
Jimenez was blessed with the highs of Nuno Espirito Santo’s glory years at Molineux, seeing him play amongst an abundance of top-quality, leading to the striker netting 13 goals in his first league season.
If Strand Larsen could match those numbers, he’d certainly be considered as an appropriate replacement for Jimenez, with the main concern being whether Wolves can get themselves away from a relegation battle.