Gary O'Neil wants to sign a striker - and could sell a Wolves star to fund it
Gary O’Neil’s summer dreams involve the recruitment of a spearhead for Wolves' attack.
The Molineux chief is in a healthier position than 12 months ago when he accepted the job four days before the season’s opener at Manchester United.
But he needs a good, old-fashioned No.9. Finding the right man was the brief throughout January - and nothing has changed since then.
O’Neil has got options now that Matheus Cunha and Hwang Hee-Chan are fit but he desperately needs an out-and-out forward to knit it all together. A move for Chelsea's Armando Broja came to nothing earlier this season.
With Cunha picking up an injury and Hwang heading off to the Asia Cup, Wolves were left exposed during the second half of a campaign that had started by confounding expectations.
Unlike several other Midlands clubs, over in the Black Country their financial medicine was taken 12 months ago. The sale of Matheus Nunes to Manchester City and Ruben Neves to Al Hilal raised almost £100m and - pardon the pun - kept the Premier League wolves from their door.
It was those sales - and Julen Lopetegui’s misplaced assessment that the crop left behind wouldn’t cope - that led to the feeling that it would be a season to forget.
The ex-Real Madrid chief wanted to keep spending, without realising that the plunge into the market during January last year had been the chief reason why Wolves were able to escape. O’Neil more than steadied the ship.
However, the feeling remains that if the 41-year-old is to push forward again he may need three or four additions.
And with owners Fosun making it clear that the club must become self-sustainable after reigning back on their corporately suicidal attempts to lever more cash out of supporters with monster ticket-price hikes - it is likely that one of their assets could be sacrificed for the greater good.
The question is: Which one?
Pedro Neto is the obvious choice.
Pedro Neto is a player linked with a number of clubs towards the top of the Premier League table
The Portuguese winger can produce the spectacular. Witness his goal against West Brom in the FA Cup Fourth Round victory. Very few players could have scored that. The problem is that he’s become a walking injury problem.
In five seasons, Neto has made 75 starts in the Premier League. Granted there have been more sightings of him from the substitutes’ bench. But given that if he’s fit, he starts, it must mean for the rest of the time that he has been working his way back.
And for all the fact that, on his day, he wouldn’t look out of place in any side in the top flight, who is going to pay a £50m-plus price tag for a player who hasn’t yet completed one full season?
Skipper Max Kilman is another candidate. He should have been in the conversation around plugging any hole on the left-hand side of Gareth Southgate's defence.
WOLVERHAMPTON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 10: Max Kilman of Wolverhampton Wanderers reacts during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brentford FC at Molineux on February 10, 2024 in Wolverhampton, England. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
Some seasoned observers of the centre-half believe he’s better in a three-man backline, rather than a two. Maybe, maybe not.
But when Kilman starts alongside the evergreen Craig Dawson, he stands tall. There’s something about their partnership that adds a cloak of security to O’Neil’s side.
Losing the club’s skipper, however, would be a bitter pill for Wolves fans to swallow. Cunha may command a decent fee - but then he cost £44m and has just completed his first campaign in the Premier League.
Usually, improvement follows. And the Brazilian did plenty to suggest that he might be able to lift his game up one level.
The one who is most likely to be sacrificed for the greater good is Rayan Ait-Nouri. Used as a left-back out of possession and pushed forwards when in it, the Moroccan has come on leaps and bounds.
Outstanding during the FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Coventry City - his sale would leave a hole - but one that may not be as decisive as one through the spine of O’Neil’s side, it may be that the African is the one to finance a re-build.
Of course, there remain several unknowns when discussing the potential outcome of Wolves summer. Striker Fabio Silva, Gonzalo Guedes and Daniel Podence all remain under contract but look superfluous to O’Neil.
If - and it’s a big ‘if’ - any sizeable return can be made on any of those - Podence would be useful but appears to have made his feelings on a return to Molineux known on social media - then it could be that Wolves make-do.
But O’Neil will be pushing for a striker. Otherwise, to coin a phrase from a famous old song, those summer dreams may be ripped at the seams. And he will be back to where he started last year.
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