Wolves appoint O’Neil after Lopetegui exit

Gary O’Neil has been appointed as the new head coach of Wolverhampton Wanderers on a three-year contract, the Premier League club announced on Wednesday.Wolves wasted little time in bringing in the former Bournemouth manager after Julen Lopetegui, quit his post on Tuesday – just days before the start of the new Premier League season.Lopetegui and Wolves parted company less than a week before their first game of the 2023/24 league campaign, at Manchester United on Monday, with reported differences on transfer policy said to be behind the end of the Spaniard’s nine months in charge at Molineux.Former Spain and Real Madrid boss Lopetegui joined Wolves in November, replacing Bruno Lage, with the club bottom of the Premier League and helped them stay in the top flight, finishing 13th. But the 56-year-old was said to be frustrated by their approach in the transfer market, with a number of first-team players departing this summer and few replacements found.Wolves have sold the likes of Ruben Neves, Conor Coady, Nathan Collins and Raul Jimenez and have only brought in two players on free transfers – Matt Doherty and Tom King.Tuesday’s statement acknowledged the rift between Lopetegui and Wolves’s hierarchy by saying: "The head coach and club acknowledged and accepted their differences of opinion on certain issues and agreed that an amicable end to his contract was the best solution for all parties.”The club’s statement added: "Talks have been ongoing in recent weeks, held with the utmost respect and cordiality, affording the club time and space to begin work on finding a successor, while also ensuring that Julen and his backroom staff could continue their planned preparation to ensure the playing squad would be in the best possible condition for the start of the Premier League season.”In his own statement Lopetegui said: "I wish Wolves and everybody at the club the very best of luck for the future, and thank them for the opportunity granted at the time to take charge of this wonderful club."It has been an honour to enjoy this adventure. Also, of course, I want to thank the players, who have always given the maximum to achieve our objectives, and especially the fans that made me feel like one of them from the very first moment and have always been amazing to me, my staff and my family.”Lopetegui, whose backroom staff of Pablo Sanz, Juan Peinado, Oscar Caro, Edu Rubio, Borja De Alba Alonso and Daniel Lopetegui will also leave, took over with the club in dire straits.He won nine league games from that point, beating Liverpool and Tottenham at Molineux, as the club finished safely in mid-table to extend their top-flight stay into a sixth season.The 40-year-old O’Neil, a rising star among English football managers, was immediately installed as favourite to take over at the West Midlands club, having been surprisingly sacked by Bournemouth in June despite guiding the Cherries to Premier League safety last season."We’re delighted to welcome Gary to the club,” said Wolves sporting director Matt Hobbs in a statement. "He’s a highly-motivated young coach with strong principles and very well thought of by everyone he has worked with, and we’re excited to see what we can achieve together at Wolves. Our players have shown their quality during pre-season, and I believe Gary and his team will continue to coach and improve them and will have success working with this group.”O’Neil, who made his name in football as a midfielder with Portsmouth, replaced Scott Parker as Bournemouth manager at the end of August last year and led the team to a 15th-place finish in the Premier League. O’Neil initially took over from Parker on an interim basis following a 9-0 hammering at Liverpool before being appointed permanently in November.He took 36 points from his 34 top-flight games in charge but was still let go by Bournemouth who, just hours later, appointed former Rayo Vallecano boss Andoni Iraola as their new manager.