Last week saw the conclusion of the 2023–24 season, as Gary O’Neil’s first season at Molineux ended underwhelmingly.
In their final 10 Premier League games, Wolves managed just five points out of a possible thirty, bringing their encouraging season to an end with a 14th-place finish.
Despite a lacklustre final stretch, O’Neil made sure his team exceeded the previous season’s point total by five despite a rollercoaster of a campaign.
With the disaster the Englishman walked into days before the season began and having to play the entire season with a limited group, the manager’s first year could have ended much better, but it could have also gone much worse.
Due to financial difficulties, Wolves offloaded a number of elite players in the summer of 2023. Among them was Raul Jimenez, whose prior performance leaves a gap that needs to be replaced. O’Neil could fill this deficit this summer with a potential signing.
Serhou Guirassy is a must-target for Wolves this summer.
The manager has stated all season long that he would want to see more forwards in his lineup, especially a consistent number nine, since Hwang Hee-chan is the only player that fits that description.
Given that the Old Gold were connected to Serhou Guirassy, a forward for VfB Stuttgart, O’Neil might be persuaded to reassess a target from January in light of this.
With a release clause of just €17.5 million (£15 million), the 28-year-old has a very low price tag, which may encourage Wolves to fight for him once more.
The only player with more goals in the 2023–24 Bundesliga than Guirassy was Harry Kane, suggesting the kind of player he may be if interest were to resurface for O’Neil’s team.
Serhou Guirassy might be the Raul Jimenez of Gary O’Neil.
Since Jimenez’s career abruptly collapsed due to a potentially fatal head injury in 2020, Wolves have been without a trustworthy number nine.
Under Nuno Santo, the Mexican was a key player in the Old Gold’s Premier League triumph, scoring 30 goals in the 2018–19 and 2019–20 seasons—a productive run the team hasn’t had since.
The search for a replacement for Jimenez may come to an end this summer if Wolves were to make a £15 million offer for Guirassy, who has proven to be a dependable goal scorer, given the departure of Nuno’s marksman and O’Neil’s indelible impact on the team.
| Raul Jimenez 19/20 | Serhou Guirassy 23/24 | |
| Goals | 17 | 28 |
| Scoring frequency | 191 minutes | 79 minutes |
| Conversion rate | 14% | 30% |
| Shots on target per game | 1.2 | 1.6 |
Over the 2023/24 season, the Stuttgart frontman proved to be one of the most clinical strikers in Europe, recording a higher conversion rate (30%) than Premier League Golden Boot winner Erling Haaland (22%).
We need to hear again about the influence Jimenez’s presence had on Wolves, and the following table shows that, when comparing the Mexican’s best season at Wolves to the Bundesliga star’s 2023–24 campaign, Guirassy may be just that.
A striker as clinical and dependable as the Stuttgart marksman is rare, let alone for a price of just £15 million, which should particularly thrill Wolves. Scout Antonio Mango hailed the Stuttgart marksman as “unstoppable.”
O’Neil will be hoping that history does not repeat itself after losing out on Viktor Gyokeres last summer owing to financial difficulties, and Guirassy turning out to be a risk worth taking.
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