Ruben Vinagre unlikely to make early Wolves return from Olympiacos loan
Wolves wing-back Ruben Vinagre is not expected to return to Molineux next month – despite reports in Greece stating his loan spell at Olympiacos will be cut short.
Vinagre has struggled for game time since moving to last season’s Europa League rivals – on a season-long deal with an option to make the move permanent for £22.5million – and it has been said in the Greek media that he feels ‘alienated’ and will ‘say goodbye in January’.
But it is understood the 21-year-old Portuguese is focused on turning things around in Greece, while Wolves are well-stocked in his position with Fernando Marcal and Rayan Ait-Nouri while Jonny Castro Otto continues his recovery from knee surgery.
Vinagre’s move to Olympiacos came late in the last transfer window – in the wake of Ait-Nouri’s loan signing with a £20m permanent option from French club Angers.
Having made 70 appearances over three seasons in gold and black though, things have not yet gone to plan for the Portugal Under-21 international in the Greek Super League.
He has only made two substitute appearances in the Champions League and two starts in the league, with the latest against Volos last weekend seeing him taken off at half time.
That performance led to Greek outlet Sportime reporting Vinagre ‘did not want to come’ and that he would return to Molineux having struggled for motivation.
The chances of him being back at Wolves, though, are thought to be slim and he is likely to continue working under compatriot Pedro Martins at the Karaiskakis Stadium.
Patrick Cutrone is also not expected to be back in Wolverhampton soon despite his troubles in Italy.
The striker was expected to make a certain number of starts during his 18-month loan at Serie A side Fiorentina for it to become a permanent deal.
But Cesare Prandelli has not handed Cutrone a start since his appointment in November – although Cutrone’s agent has claimed the obligation to make the deal permanent has now been turned into an option to do so.
The complicated situation led to a report from tuttomercatoweb.com stating he had not settled, which Fiorentina have since come out and condemned as ‘absolutely deplorable’.
They issued an official club statement which read: “Fiorentina denies what is written by the website tuttomercatoweb.com regarding alleged conflicts between the footballer Patrick Cutrone and the rest of the team.
“The club considers the statements of the author of the article to be serious, reserving the right to act in the offices of the competent bodies.
“The purple dressing room is united and compact and we find it absolutely deplorable the attempt to undermine, with false news, the spirit of a healthy group made up of serious professionals.”
AC Milan youth product Cutrone went back to Italy after spending half a season at Wolves, with the 22-year-old scoring three goals in 24 appearances across all competitions.
Wolves will carry on monitoring the situations of him and Vinagre, but it is not thought either of them will be reintegrated by Nuno Espirito Santo over the coming months.
