Leo Bonatini struggled again as Premier League newcomers Wolverhampton Wanderers were knocked out of the EFL Cup by Leicester City at Molineux.
Wolverhampton Wanderers have some of the richest and most ambitious owners in football right now. So the fact that Leo Bonatini is the club’s second-choice centre forward is rather baffling.
The Brazilian striker is without a league goal since he scored the winner in a 1-0 victory against Birmingham City in December 2017. In all competitions, Bonatini has scored just once in 31 games.
No wonder Wolves’ decision to sign him on a permanent basis from Al Hilal for £5 million after last season’s hit-and-miss loan spell raised eyebrows.
And he certainly wasted a rare opportunity to impress on Tuesday night, producing an ineffective 83-minute performance in Wolves’ EFL Cup third round penalty shootout defeat to Leicester City at Molineux, copping plenty of flak on Twitter as a result.
So it should be obvious where Wolves’ owners need to invest next in January. If the Black Country giants are serious about taking the Premier League by storm, they cannot have a striker like Bonatini as the first reserve behind Raul Jimenez.
The Mexican international himself is hardly the most prolific of strikers, despite notching well-taken goals against Everton and Burnley since his loan move from Benfica.
In a 38-game season, Nuno Espirito Santo will need to rely on more than just Jimenez, and Bonatini has shown again that he is not up to the task and needs to be replaced.
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