Ex-Bristol City, Cardiff City, Portsmouth, & West Ham star in Wolves talks

Former Bristol City midfielder Gary O’Neil has apparently held talks with Wolves about taking over, according to reports.

The Daily Mirror reported that the Premier League club spent three-hours discussing the potential of O’Neil taking over at Molineux. Julen Lopetegui is their manager but his position has been cast into doubt by the national press after being dealt a series of problems this summer in the transfer market.

Several of their big name players such as Raul Jimenez, Ruben Neves and Conor Coady have been sold but they have not been able to replace them as he’d have liked. The former Real Madrid boss spoke candidly in an interview with Spanish journalist Guillem Balagué about how the difficulties he has faced in this transfer window.

The Mirror, the Guardian and BBC all report that Wolves are said to be making a contingency plan should Lopetegui walk before the start of the campaign or during it. They said that Wolves last week sounded out potential replacements and O’Neil is at the top of their list.

A report from the Express & Star say that Lopetegui is in 'crunch talks' over his future and that a meeting was being held to discuss a financial package for his departure. They report he is unlikely to resign and Wolves are unwilling to sack him because of the financial payout and so his representatives and theirs are trying to come to a comprimise that will see the two parties go their separate ways.

O’Neil was sacked by AFC Bournemouth earlier this summer and replaced by Andoni Iraola. The 40-year-old had a 29.73% win percentage at the Vitality Stadium but guided the Cherries to safety last year after succeeding Scott Parker.

The former Portsmouth, Cardiff City, QPR and West Ham midfielder has only coached at Liverpool and AFC Bournemouth before and it would be interesting to see how he fared at a club he didn’t have an association to.

O’Neil has already coached Antoine Semenyo who was bought by Bournemouth in January and he could now link up with former captain Daniel Bentley. Bentley made the move in January, and is second choice goalkeeper behind Jose Sa.

Wolves meanwhile maintain a strong interest in Alex Scott but O’Neil’s former club Bournemouth remain the favourites. Bristol City’s stance is clear that it will take £25m or more to prize Scott away from Ashton Gate and so far no club has done that. It is expected Bournemouth will make a move for him later in the window but Wolves may struggle to put the financial package together to get Scott to them.