Wolves’ 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa should be sending alarm bells to Fosun for one big reason.
Wolves’ streak at Villa Park finally came to an end. While Gary O’Neil’s men played some good football at times, the defeat always seemed inevitable.
Injuries have really stacked up against the Molineux outfit with Pedro Neto, Matheus Cunha, Hwang Hee-Chan, Craig Dawson and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde all out.
As a result, O’Neil has had few options to work within the first team. Leon Chiwome and Nathan Fraser have both been thrown into the deep end with Premier League starts as the club tries to end the season in Europe.
Now, after back-to-back defeats alarm bells must go off for Fosun ahead of the summer transfer window.
Lack of depth is now a long-term issue for Wolves
The current campaign will be like deja vu for many Wolves fans. Just like the 2021/22 season, the club sat on the cusp of doing something fantastic at Christmas and looked to get into Europe.
Yet, Fosun opted not to back either manager in January and instead made the strange decision to send out attacking options on loan. In 2022, this was Adama Traore who was shipped off to Barcelona with no option to buy.
Fast forward to two years later and the club still haven’t learned their lesson. Both Fabio Silva and Sasa Kalajdzic were sent out on loan despite them both playing a part in the first half of the campaign.
Now, as injuries stack up, the lack of options O’Neil has is frightening and could well have cost Wolves this season.
Against Villa, this was at its worst late in the game. Like Wolves, the hosts currently have plenty of absentees through suspension and injury. Unai Emery’s men actually had more first-teamers out than Wolves during the tie.
Yet, as the game lay in the balance, the hosts were able to bring on players such as Italian international Nicolò Zaniolo to swing the game back in their favour. In comparison, Wolves brought on youngster Tawanda Chirewa.
For two teams who have now been back in the Premier League for a similar amount of time, it is embarrassing that so many managers have had so few options.
Wolves’ depth issue needs to be sorted this summer
Fosun finally needs to put an end to this ongoing issue this summer. Wolves have had a small squad for years which now looks to have cost them again.
Europe is now unlikely to be possible and the club already fumbled the FA Cup due to such few options.
In the transfer window, a centre-back, winger and striker are needed as a minimum to increase the numbers.
If the club were hit with such injuries across a season, it would be almost a guarantee that they would be brought into a relegation battle.
That cannot be allowed to happen again; the club finally need to put an end to this ongoing problem.