The new Premier League season gets under way in just 15 days’ time, and Patrick Cutrone is still a Wolverhampton Wanderers player.
The Italian striker endured a season of upheaval in 2020/21.
After hardly featuring for Fiorentina, he moved back to Wolves in January to cover the absence of Raul Jimenez for only a couple of weeks.
But Willian Jose then came in on loan from Real Sociedad, prompting Wolves to send Cutrone to Valencia.
Minutes were again hard to come by for the 23-year-old.
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Given what happened with him last term, some people have tipped him to depart.
He’s reportedly had interest from Sampdoria, Bologna and Villarreal.
And Cutrone did recently admit that he was looking for a new club.
But that was a a few weeks ago now, and the picture might just have changed slightly.
Cutrone has been in Marbella with his Wolves teammates, and he’s seen a fair amount of football so far under new coach Bruno Lage.
He’s played in all three pre-season matches up to now for approximately 152 minutes, and scored the first goal of the Lage era against Real Betis last weekend.
Perhaps he’s still likely to move on, but could there be a greater chance of him staying?
Cutrone to get second chance?
One wonders if Lage has had a word with Cutrone about his future.
Lage’s preferred system is 4-4-2, which would potentially mean a bit more game time for Cutrone were he to stick around.
Starting with two attackers regularly would undoubtedly mean decent minutes for whichever striker is in reserve.
Perhaps Lage sees Cutrone as that individual given the amount he’s used him in pre-season thus far.
That all said, the player’s mind may well already be elsewhere.