Former Bournemouth boss Gary O'Neil is a candidate Wolves are keen to speak to about taking over from Julen Lopetegui; the former Spain and Real Madrid boss has criticised the club's lack of spending this summer and seen top players leave; Wolves have faced pressure to comply with FFP
Tuesday 8 August 2023 20:44, UK
Wolves are in talks with Julen Lopetegui over mutually terminating his contract.
Former Bournemouth boss Gary O'Neil is a candidate Wolves are keen to speak to about taking over from Lopetegui, who joined Wolves in November 2022 when the club were bottom of the Premier League.
Lopetegui has criticised the club's lack of spending during this summer's window and has cut a frustrated figure over the last few weeks as he looks to build on their 13th-place finish last season.
He has also seen a number of the club's best players leave during this summer as Wolves have been under substantial pressure to reduce the wage bill and comply with FFP.
O'Neil has been out of work since being sacked by Bournemouth in June but has been linked with a host of jobs over the summer.
He kept the club in the Premier League against all the odds racking up 39 points and finishing 15th, despite that achievement he did not keep hold of his job.
The Wolves hierarchy believe O'Neil could do a similar job with little funds and a much-needed morale boost for the club.
Sky Sports' Paul Merson:
A lot of the owners in the bottom half of the Premier League table are taking a chance. They're looking at Luton and Sheffield United coming up and thinking: "We're going to be better than them, if we're better than one more team, why do we have to spend £100m wage and give £100,000 a week wages."
That's the problem with Wolves, they're getting rid of all these players and not getting anyone in. My only thinking is they're saying: "we need to be better than Luton and Sheffield United". And it's a dangerous game.
Looking at the current picture, I don't think Wolves stay up. If Gary O'Neil comes in, he will do a good job. If they do bring someone in, they would need the advantage of someone managing in the Premier League as good as yesterday. So he would come in and know the teams.
You wouldn't want to bring someone in from abroad who would just have to get used to it. Gary would know all those players, he wouldn't have worked with them but played against them. But someone else would ask for six months and then they're relegated by Christmas.
Wolves will start their 2023/24 Premier League campaign away at Manchester United on Monday August 14, live on Monday Night Football at 8pm.
Julen Lopetegui's side, who finished 13th in the Premier League last season, then host Brighton at Molineux on August 19 before two away games against Everton (August 26) and Crystal Palace (September 2).
Wolves host treble-winners Manchester City on September 30th and Aston Villa in the first Black Country derby of the season the weekend after on October 7. The reverse fixture against Villa is March 30.
The first game against Nottingham Forest is on December 9 at Molineux and the reverse fixture at the City Ground takes place on April 13.
Wolves face a tough end to the season with a home game against Arsenal on April 20, and away trips to Manchester City (May 4) and Liverpool on the final day on May 19.
In
Boubacar Traore - Metz, £9.5m
Matt Doherty - Atletico Madrid, free
Tom King - Northampton, free
Out
Ryan Giles - Luton, undisclosed
Luke Cundle - Plymouth, loan
Conor Coady - Leicester, £7.5m
Nathan Collins - Brentford, £23m
Hayao Kawabe - Standard Liege, undisclosed
Dion Sanderson - Birmingham, undisclosed
Jackson Smith - Walsall, undisclosed
Diego Costa - Released
Luke Matheson - Released
Joao Moutinho - Released
Taylor Perry - Released
Michael Agboola - Released
Lee Harkin - Released
Jack Hodnett - Released
Jack Scott - Released
Theo Corbeanu - Grasshoppers, loan
Ki-Jana Hoever - Stoke, loan
Chiquinho - Stoke, loan
Nigel Lonwijk - Grasshoppers, loan
Louis Moulden - Rochdale, loan
Tyler Roberts - Doncaster, loan
Dexter Lembikisa - Rotherham, loan
Ollie Tipton - Notts County, loan
Matija Sarkic - Millwall, undisclosed
