Gary O’Neil’s stint at Wolves was certainly a rollercoaster.
He arrived at Molineux amid chaos, after Julen Lopetegui walked away from the club just days before the start of the 2023/24 season.
The Spaniard was unhappy over transfers, and is said to have felt the goalposts had been moved regarding player recruitment.
O’Neil came in, and did a very good job all things considered.
He guided Wolves to a 14th-placed finish in the end. There was disappointment in the way Wanderers finished the campaign, but many would have definitely taken that at the start of the season after Lopetegui walked away.
One player who was crucial to Wolves for O’Neil in his first term was Rayan Ait-Nouri.
In a parallel universe, Wolves might have lost the Algerian when O’Neil first got to Wolves.
Gary O’Neil claims Rayan Ait-Nouri actually nearly left Wolves two years ago
O’Neil has done a new interview with The Telegraph, and touched on his time at Wolves.
The Englishman doesn’t have any regrets about his time at Molineux, although he says he would have loved to get to January.
The subject of player development came up in the interview, and Ait-Nouri was one of two success stories mentioned.
And interestingly, O’Neil claims he’d been close to leaving when he first arrived.
He said: “Rayan was close to leaving for France when we got there. And as soon as we got there we were like ‘let’s keep Rayan’.
“He’s a great kid and has unbelievable ability.”
- READ MORE: Pep Guardiola already impressed by Rayan Ait-Nouri for something he’d started doing at Wolves
O’Neil deserves praise over Ait-Nouri
Ait-Nouri was outstanding at times for Wolves in the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons for Wolves, and undoubtedly, O’Neil deserves credit for the part he played in his development.
He also deserves credit for not allowing him to depart when he first got there. Clearly, he could see there was lots more room for growth.
It would be interesting to know which team in France was apparently close to signing him. The obvious club would be Paris Saint-Germain, as they were linked with him around that time.
Ait-Nouri was one of Wolves’ best players in the previous two seasons, and he is now going to be a big loss after he left to join Manchester City.
Sadly, Ait-Nouri wasn’t keen to sign a contract extension at Wolves, meaning the club didn’t have much choice than to sell.
He was sold to City for £36 million early in the summer.
It’s been claimed that Wolves felt that sale of Ait-Nouri was slightly cheap in hindsight, and that is a feeling many fans also share.
But it was still a lot more than Wolves would have received had they sold him two years prior.