Gary O’Neil names the player he had at Wolves who was like a coach on the pitch

At one point, Wolves looked like they were really going places under Gary O’Neil.

The Englishman was appointed Wolves manager in August 2023, answering the club’s SOS call after Julen Lopetegui walked away after growing frustrated over recruitment.

Gary O’Neil took a bit of time to get going, but really started to get a tune out of his players by mid-season.

In the end, Wolves could not sustain their mid-season form and fell away a bit at the end, but a 10th-placed finish for 2023/24 was deemed a success after such a chaotic start to the campaign.

Unfortunately for O’Neil though, he then only lasted a few months into his second season before getting sacked.

In that first season though, there were genuine signs that Wolves were on the up.

He got a lot out of many players, and O’Neil has now appeared in a new video and praised one player’s special intelligence.

Gary O’Neil says ‘super intelligent’ Pablo Sarabia was like a coach on the pitch for Wolves

Pablo Sarabia was a player fans had very high hopes for when he signed in January 2023.

He came in from Paris Saint-Germain, having enjoyed a very productive loan spell at Sporting CP in 2021/22, and was a Spain international.

Unfortunately, Sarabia did struggle to be consistent for Wolves, with some often frustrated by his lack of physicality and languid style.

But Sarabia was a fine technician, and someone who could produce moments on brilliance.

O’Neil has appeared in a new video on The Coaches Voice YouTube channel, in which he dissects Wolves’ 4-2 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

And in that video he has some nice words for Sarabia.

He said: “The importance of having intelligent people in these positions… Pablo Sarabia was super intelligent. He was almost like having a coach on the pitch.

“Pablo understood this position really, really well.

“He understood that if we got outside to Nelson Semedo, and Enzo Fernandez tried to help Moises Caicedo at any point, Pablo would just run him away. And as Caicedo is on his way across, we’d be able to get back into Mario Lemina.

“And the beauty of this is now you get this lovely two vs one on this side. Matheus and Pablo were both really well up on ‘If we have time on the ball, run this corridor’.”

• READ MORE: Nelson Semedo and others react as Pablo Sarabia officially joins next club after Wolves exit

Wolves miss Sarabia

Sarabia could frustrate fans. But there is no denying he was one of the most creative players in the squad during his time at the club.

The rigours of English football perhaps did not wholly suit him. But he could still conjure up chances for Wolves, and did deliver some very clutch moments.

Sarabia – who Vitor Pereira wished he’d come across years ago – was one of a host of players to leave the club in the summer, and he went on to join Qatar side Al-Arabi, for whom he has already scored three goals and made two assists.

And so far it’s safe to say that Wolves are missing his creative spark, having scored just three Premier League goals thus far.