Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo (Getty Images)
Wolves have confirmed that Leo Bonatini has joined Grasshopper Club Zurich in a 2-year loan deal. The club also wished the striker for the best as he starts this 2-year stint in Switzerland.
Leo Bonatini is a 26-year-old Brazilian forward who is on loan at Grasshopper Club Zurich from Wolves. He started his youth career at Brazilian side Cruzeiro in 2010. He was sent on loan to Juventus’ youth side in 2012.
When he returned, a loan to Goias and Estoril followed. Estoril made his move permanent in 2015. A year later, he joined Al-Hilal in the Saudi Professional League. He played 36 times for them, scored 15 and assisted 4.
Another loan deal followed in the next season with Wolves being the destination. Bonatini featured heavily for them in their promotion campaign. He signed for them permanently in 2018.
More loan spells were on the cards as he went to Nottingham Forest and Vitoria Guimares during 2019 and 2020. Finally, he was loaned to Grasshopper Zurich at the start of this season. He has featured a total of 56 times for Wolves, scored 13 and assisted 7 more (source – Transfermarkt).
Bonatini has 12 appearances for the Brazil U-17 side but yet to be called up to the senior team.
While Bonatini may have been a journeyman throughout his career, his best stint for Wolves came in 2017-18 when he was a big part of their promotion to the Premier League. Since then, the club have relied on the likes of Raul Jimenez, Diogo Jota and Adama Traore for their attacking output.
Bonatini has barely played a game for the side in 2 years and with the arrival of Fabio Silva from Porto (source – Sky Sports), it was pretty clear that he wasn’t in Nuno Espirito Santo’s plans for the near future.
At Grasshopper Zurich, he would get some game time at least and he can start afresh. For Wolves, it clears out the wage bill a little bit and makes space for new arrivals such as Fabio Silva.
It would seem a bit harsh on a player who contributed to their climb up to the Premier League but we also need to consider that Raul Jimenez was rightfully starting ahead of him. The Mexican hitman has taken the league by storm in the last two seasons and there was no way Bonatini could oust him.