When Wolves signed Pablo Sarabia in January, fans rejoiced.
The club had landed a Spain international from French giants Paris Saint-Germain, and for under £5 million.
The deal was hailed as a total bargain by many.
Because Sarabia was a proven player, with very good goals and assists numbers at previous clubs.
In 2021/22 when he was on loan at Sporting CP, he scored 21 goals and made 10 assists.
Granted, the standard of the Portuguese league is not the highest out there. But it’s still a league packed with good players.
Sarabia came to Wolves in January and showed glimpses of his talent until the end of the season.
And fans were ready for him to kick on in 2023/24. But it simply has not happened, and it’s clear he has work to do at Molineux…
Pablo Sarabia not fancied by Gary O’Neil at Wolves right now – he has work to do
Sarabia got three assists in the Carabao Cup game against Blackpool in late August.
Fans hoped he would kick on from that.
But he then dropped a poor performance in the 3-2 defeat to Crystal Palace.
And that was Sarabia’s last appearance for Wolves in the Premier League, which was just over a month ago.
Perhaps damningly, O’Neil has overlooked Sarabia in each of Wolves’ last four league games, with Hwang Hee-chan and Pedro Neto the clear favourites for the head coach in the wide areas.
This may be something that has the officials at Wolves feeling a little uncomfortable.
Because Sarabia is the highest paid player at Wolves ‘by a considerable margin’ (via Express & Star podcast).
For whatever reason, Sarabia just isn’t doing it for O’Neil at this moment in time.
So it’s on him to knuckle down and force his way back into this side.
On paper, he is one of the most talented players in the whole squad. Perhaps he has not been used in his best position so far.
But he is clearly way behind Hwang and Neto in the pecking order right now.
If things don’t change after the international break, one wonders if he will actually still be a Wolves player beyond the January window.
After all, he did reportedly have some interest in him from Saudi Arabia.