The bargain Euro 2024 star who would be an ideal signing for West Ham & Wolves

Georges Mikautadze has had a seriously strange season. Despite a slew of goals for French side Metz over the second half of the season and the two goals he’s already scored for Georgia at Euro 2024 – enough to make him the tournament’s joint leading goalscorer at this early stage – his future is deeply uncertain and it isn’t clear where he will be playing come the start of the season.

The 23-year-old made his name scoring 23 goals for Metz in the 2022/23 season, a haul which propelled his club into Ligue 1 and himself towards a €16m (£13.5m) move to Dutch giants Ajax – a dream transfer which soured swiftly. The Georgian was given just nine games to impress and failed to score, all while being isolated from the team he had only just joined.

“I spent two months in a hotel. I was alone in my room, I was going mad,” he told French sports daily L’Equipe. “I didn’t know anyone. I didn’t speak the language. The conditions weren’t created to allow me to succeed. All players need to feel comfortable in their skin and feel respected in order to perform. I was disappointed.”

His frustration was, at least, short-lived. In January, he was loaned right back to Metz, who were battling against relegation – and after a brief period of re-adjustment, Mikautadze was quickly back in the goals, scoring 14 in 22. They would eventually go back down to the French second tier after losing a relegation play-off to Saint Etienne.

That leaves Mikautadze’s fate up in the air once more. The loan deal with Metz reportedly included a buy option for €10m (£8.4m), a dead loss for Ajax but now a deal which they are unlikely to be able to follow through with – happily, however, his form has translated to Europe’s grandest stage.

It was Mikautadze who found a half-yard of space to score Georgia’s equalising goal in the ding-dong game against Turkey, and he who scored the penalty that earned his country a point against Czechia. He may have had a rough ride at Ajax, but he will likely have suitors this summer and a price point has already been established. There are a lot of European clubs who know they can sign a proven goalscorer for a knock-down price – and all they need to do is not leave him alone in a hotel for months on end like a chinstrapped Alan Partridge.

There are perhaps a few Premier League clubs who could do with a player of his ilk, as well. A pressing forward who has a ton of energy, good pace and impressive off-ball movement, he isn’t just a good finisher but a dynamic presence who can keep fluid attacks on the front foot. There are flaws in his game – his first touch is slightly off sometimes, and his passing range is modest – but he would be a fine addition to teams that look to play direct and move the ball quickly up front.

West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers spring to mind. The former, under new head coach Julen Lopetegui, are in dire need of fresh blood up front and Mikautadze’s style of play bears some resemblance to the way Jarrod Bowen goes about his business at times – he probably doesn’t have quite so high a ceiling, but it isn’t a reach to see them complementing each other nicely if West Ham decide to move on from the target man model they’ve employed with Danny Ings and Michail Antonio.

Wolves, on the other hand, have their number nine sorted for the foreseeable future thanks to the excellence of Brazilian striker Matheus Cunha, but Mikautadze’s rambunctious running and subtle shifts of pace to escape markers is redolent of their current first choice and it’s easy to imagine him providing a back-up – and probably quite stiff competition – to Cunha for next season.

Neither side have been directly linked with a bid and the only club that have been reported as having made an enquiry are Rennes from Ligue 1, but that hasn’t gone anywhere as yet and there is little doubt that the Georgian’s exploits at Euro 2024 will bring him to wider attention. So why not the Premier League? He’d certainly have one of the finest beards in the top flight and he might just score a few goals as well.