Wolves flop Cutrone slams ‘fixated’ Nuno for failing to give him a chance as he prepares to face Milan with Fiorentina
Sponsored by
PATRICK CUTRONE has hit out at Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo for being "totally fixated" on his favourite players.
After signing from AC Milan for £16million in the summer, the Italian was quickly carted off back to Serie A having scored just three times in England.
With the majority of Cutrone's 24 appearances coming in Wolves' truncated Europa League campaign, he felt hard done by for being given just three Premier League starts.
And the striker feels Nuno had no intention of increasing his opportunities due to the coach's fierce loyalty to the likes of Raul Jimenez and Diogo Jota.
Cutrone told La Gazzetta dello Sport: “You get nowhere with ifs and buts. If it went like this, it means it was supposed to go like this. I can’t know what might’ve happened and I have no interest looking back.
“The experience at Wolves helped me to grow as a person and a professional. I got to know a new culture, new customs, really improved my English.
“In football terms, I learned a new way of playing, with a more intense tempo, where you attack more and don’t fear getting caught on the counter. In the Premier League, you don’t back off, you advance.
“Many people say I didn’t settle in, but that’s false.
Nuno was totally fixated on that XI, always the same XI, and couldn’t see any of the other players in the squad."
Patrick Cutrone
";The truth is that the coach, Nuno Espirito Santo, had his group of faithful players who he would not give up, those who won promotion from the Championship.
“He was totally fixated on that XI, always the same XI, and couldn’t see any of the other players in the squad.
“It wasn’t just me, but all of us who were outside that group.”
The 22-year-old's best run in the team came across September and October, when he was trusted with league starts and scored against Chelsea.
But from November onwards he only played 13 minutes in the Prem, acting as the death knell of his spell at Molineux.
He noted: “I started three games and scored two goals, but nothing changed. At that point, I had to leave.”
most read in football
Now back in Italy with Fiorentina, Cutrone is looking forward to facing former employers Milan on Saturday night.
The Lombardy-born forward is still yet to score for the Tuscans and his agent claimed in August that he did not actually want to leave the San Siro.
He said: “Perhaps it’s for the best that it’s happening in Florence rather than San Siro, as this is a team I still care a great deal about.
“It’ll be nice to see my old teammates and the fans again. It’d be nice to swap shirts with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. It’s Ibra, you don’t need to say anything more.”