Wolves’ 2023/24 season has been totally unexpected following the chaos of last summer that saw many players leave, as well as Julen Lopetegui.
As the club faced financial pressure, high-profile stars like Ruben Neves, Matheus Nunes and Nathan Collins were all sold, with others leaving at the end of their contracts like Joao Moutinho, Diego Costa and Adama Traore.
Lopetegui left after he felt he couldn’t take the team where he needed to, and Gary O’Neil came in as his replacement.
There was a lot of worry over the appointment.
But O’Neil has made a mockery of those early concerns, and now has Wolves sitting ninth in the Premier League table with 10 games to go and, on Saturday, he could potentially take Wolves to an FA Cup semi-final.
He’s done a top job, but Merson believes this might cause an issue for Wolves this summer…
Paul Merson suggests Wolves could lose Gary O’Neil this summer
Without any doubt, O’Neil has done one of the jobs of the season so far.
Expectations were on the floor when he came in, and perhaps even he did envisage the season going quite this well.
The job he’s done is made even better by the fact he’s had a number of injuries to key players to contend with, and also Wolves were stung by several awful refereeing decisions earlier in the season.
For the first half of the season, O’Neil rather flew under the radar with what he was doing. But people are now starting to notice, and pundit Merson feels Wolves might actually have some trouble keeping him.
He said (Sportskeeda): “Gary O Neil is a brilliant manager. For him to come into the club at the moment and to do what he’s done is a special feat. In my opinion, he’s not far off getting an even better job.”
Wolves fans will hate to consider any O’Neil exit
O’Neil has certainly done a special job so far, and many Wolves fans will absolutely not want to consider the idea of him leaving.
Thankfully, it has been reported recently that Wolves are going to open talks with O’Neil about a new contract at Molineux, which would apparently include a ‘significant’ buyout clause.
Realistically, there’s probably little chance of him moving on at the end of the season. Just as Graeme Souness suggested earlier this week.
O’Neil has done a terrific job so far and it is clear he absolutely loves being Wolves manager, and is grateful for the opportunity that the club gave him.
He knows he’s adored now in these parts, and surely he will not want to be ending his journey here so soon.