Wolverhampton Wanderers have been searching for a Raul Jimenez heir for many years now, and following his recent injury, this need has been exacerbated.

The Mexican has become a talismanic figure at Molineux, having scored 55 times for the club since signing permanently in 2019.

At times the Old Gold have turned to purchase highly rated youth players in an attempt to craft his replacement, but that has just resulted in expensive flops.

Fabio Silva is the first that comes to mind, but the original in this category is Patrick Cutrone.

Nuno Espirito Santo unloaded £23m for the Italian striker and handed him a £63k-per-week wage packet.

The season before he was signed, the 24-year-old scored just three Serie A goals in 34 games.

It begs the question: what exactly those at the club saw that deserved such a price tag?

Unsurprisingly, after signing he backed this tally up once more with a similarly disappointing two goals in 12 Premier League appearances.

An average SofaScore rating of 6.63 is indicative of his time in the Midlands, where he missed two big chances and averaged a pathetic 0.2 key passes per game during this debut season.

Creatively, and with his cutting edge, Cutrone lacked in every department.

In total, the toothless striker would only feature 28 times for Wolves, scoring three times and headlining a list of terrible strikers who could not come close to their Mexican main man.

His career has now gone in a similar fashion to his form over that period, as he plays his football in Serie B for Como FC.

With two goals in his first four games for the Italian outfit, however, he might finally have found his level.

This makes the fee paid for him even more frustrating to see, as his level is so below where Nuno needed him to be. The club have been paying for it ever since, as they are still yet to find that man who is ready to take the mantle up front.

To see how far he has fallen exacerbates how poor a signing he was for the Portuguese manager, and that is one of the few stains on his otherwise glittering record at Molineux.