RANGERS are enjoying one of their most active transfer windows in recent memory, with Ridvan Yilmaz recently becoming Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s seventh addition of the summer.
The Dutchman hinted after defeat to Tottenham in pre-season last weekend that the Turkish international could be the concluding piece of business ahead of this upcoming season, although Champions League group stage qualification and the resulting financial rewards could loosen the pursestrings even further at Ibrox before the window closes on September 1st.
In the meantime, reports have recently emerged linking Wolves forward Patrick Cutrone with a move to Ibrox, with the transfer fee unlikely to be a sticking point with the 24-year-old out of contract in England next summer.
The forward has packed a lot into his short career until this point, making his debut for Milan towards the end of the 2016/17 season after progressing through the youth ranks at the club.
After netting 13 times in 63 appearances for the Italian giants, Cutrone joined Wolves in the summer of 2019. From there, however, he has fallen out of favour under former boss Nuno Espirito Santo, joining Fiorentina and Valencia on loan. Current Wolves boss Bruno Lage also deemed Cutrone surplus to requirements last summer, where he returned to Serie A with Empoli on loan last term.
Once compared to the ultimate poacher in Pippo Inzaghi, the Italian's goal return since departing Milan hasn’t always reflected that tag. Indeed, Rangers would be investing in a forward who has found the net only nine times since the beginning of the 2019/20 campaign.
And yet the comparisons with the legendary forward make somewhat sense. Cutrone is a forward who plays on the shoulder of defenders, constantly seeking to run into the space in-behind the opposition’s defensive line.
Even against deep defences, Cutrone wants the ball played into his stride as opposed to his feet.
His movement across defenders is sharp, drifting into their blindside before quickly darting across their eyeline. It is often too late for markers to react.
In addition, Cutrone tends to finish with power on his strikes, as opposed to meticulously placing his finishes into the corners of the goal.
Where the early Inzaghi comparisons quickly fall down, however, is Cutrone’s lack of anticipation inside the penalty box.
A cursory glance at the Italian’s shot map from last season with Empoli underlines his reluctance to attack the six-yard box for tap-in finishes.
Although team style can often dictate the profile of chances created, Cutrone featured in an Empoli side last season who hit the penalty area with a high volume of crosses. With the width in the team provided solely by the full-backs in Aurelio Andreazzoli’s 4-3-1-2 system, Empoli delivered the third-highest number of crosses in Serie A.
As Cutrone’s side work the ball into space on the left-hand side in the example below, notice the Italian ghosting in unchecked at the far post.
The ball is then driven across the face of goal, with the Salernitana defender swiping at mid-air in his attempt to clear the danger.
Cutrone is well-placed to stroke the ball into an empty net, but he is on his heels at the far post – perhaps anticipating that the ball would be cleared by the defender – and he steers his finish high over the crossbar from point-blank range.
The Italian is also a forward who doesn’t tend to get involved in his side’s build-up play, which would make him more similar to Antonio Colak than Alfredo Morelos in the Rangers squad.
Cutrone averaged 15.16 passes per 90 minutes for Empoli last season, which is broadly in line with his tally from Fiorentina during his year-long loan in 2020. Indeed, the Italian ended the campaign in the bottom 10th percentile for passes per 90 minutes among forwards in Serie A.
His relative lack of variety often leads to him being marked out of games where his team struggle to establish territory in the final third. In a fixture against Salernitana – who finished 17th and just narrowly avoided relegation – towards the end of last season, Cutrone attempted just three passes in his 57 minutes on the pitch.
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The former Milan prodigy is guilty of not sufficiently varying his movements, with his eagerness to exploit the space in-behind defences making him predictable.
In the example below, Cutrone shapes to make a diagonal run in-behind the Sassuolo backline.
However, the defender is quick to drop alongside him, cutting off the space in-behind the defensive line.
Cutrone would have been better served dropping short into the space between the midfield and defence after initially feigning to run beyond, making him available as a secondary passing option.
Instead, the ball is lofted towards the Italian, who is detached from the rest of his teammates, and he can only flick his header into no man's land.
Despite this, the Italian still ranked in the 60th percentile for shots per 90 minutes in Serie A last season, higher than both Olivier Giroud and Edin Dzeko.
When faced with a packed defence especially, Cutrone is adept at fashioning a half-yard to create space for a shot at goal.
With Fiorentina searching for an equaliser in stoppage time, Verona have all bar one player behind the ball in the instance below.
As the player in possession dribbles forward, Cutrone drags his marker out of the penalty box, before spinning into the space vacated by his marker.
The Italian shows impressive strength to wrestle his way goal-side of the defender, before poking the ball into the bottom corner.
On the whole, Cutrone finds himself at a crossroads in his career. Wolves are reportedly keen to offload the Italian ahead of the final year of his contract and he has failed to sufficiently impress in his previous three loan spells.
Cutrone does not provide a unique skillset when stacked against van Bronckhorst’s current forward options, possessing a solid, if unspectacular, ability to finish accurately from inside the penalty area.
He certainly wouldn’t move the needle on the European front, representing a slightly more rugged version of Antonio Colak. Even as a potential Kemar Roofe replacement, Cutrone doesn’t boast the predatory instincts to attack the six-yard area in the way the Jamaican international tends to do.
The Italian may appeal to van Bronckhorst at a fair price given his physical frame, but it is a transfer fee that is best placed to go elsewhere.
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