Raul Jimenez has scored just three Premier League goals for Wolverhampton Wanderers with Nantes’ Ligue 1 talisman a potential upgrade at Molineux.
Wolverhampton Wanderers have broken their transfer record in three of the last four transfer windows for Ivan Cavaleiro, Ruben Neves and £18 million winger Adama Traore.
And reports in The Mail suggest that Wolves’ billionaire Chinese owners Fosun International are set to dig deep again heading into the January transfer window. It is understood that Wolves are one of a number of Premier League teams, including Everton, West Ham and Southampton, interested in Nantes’ red-hot Argentine Emiliano Sala.
The Mail adds that it would take £25 million to bring Sala to Molineux in the New Year.
The former Bordeaux man has scored 11 goals in just 10 Ligue 1 starts for Nantes this season, meaning he is the most prolific Argentine anywhere in Europe’s top leagues right now, ahead of Gonzalo Higuian, Lionel Messi, Mauro Icardi and Paolo Dybala.
Raul Jimenez, then, should see this as a warning sign. The Mexican international has impressed with his hold up play, work rate and ability to get the best out of his attack-minded team-mates since arriving on loan from Benfica.
But a tally of three goals in 12 Premier League starts highlights a clear flaw in Jimenez’s game. In truth, he was never prolific at Benfica or Atletico Madrid either and the missed chances are starting to grate on some supporters.
Sala, a strong and physical target man who leads the line well, is a similar sort of striker on paper – one that perhaps offers more of a goal threat than Jimenez.
So the central American striker has until the January transfer window to prove that he should remain Wolves’ number one striker.
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