Wolverhampton Wanderers Sporting Director Matt Hobbs has outlined the plan in place if Gary O’Neil were to depart the club in the coming months as they look to tie the 40 year-old down to a new contract.
Wolves transformed under O’Neil
A week into the new season, Wolves were many people’s favourites to be relegated from the Premier League. They had parted ways with club captain Ruben Neves over the summer and had lost manager Julen Lopetegui just days before the campaign began. As Pedro Neto himself admitted, it was with trepidation that they began the new campaign.
“We lost a lot of players over the summer and at the beginning it was difficult and, I’m not going to lie, the players who stayed were like ‘hmm, OK’.”
But in the months since, O’Neil has emerged as a standout manager and has led Wolves well away from a relegation fight and left them dreaming of European football. Currently 10th, they sit just four points behind West Ham United, who occupy the final European football spot for next season, and have become a side transformed from the low-scoring side that they were in seasons past.
As a result, it is no surprise that the club are looking to offer O’Neil a new contract, despite his current deal running until 2027. Hobbs explained that “[the contract] is naturally where this is going, he’s done well enough to have that conversation”, and as per the Telegraph,’the club’s hierarchy [want] to include an improved salary and significant buy-out clause’ in light of what soon appears to be a managerial shortage in the Premier League.
Jurgen Klopp is leaving Liverpool, while the futures of Roberto De Zerbi, Erik ten Hag and Mauricio Pochettino are all up in the air. Marco Silva has long been linked with a move away from Fulham and David Moyes is not secure at West Ham either. On a national level, Gareth Southgate is likely to leave his post as England manager after EURO2024. And Hobbs has conceded that O’Neil’s performances have left him on the radar of plenty of people.
