Wolves 2024-25 Preview: Five Key Questions Ahead of the Season

With O’Neil having a full pre-season with his squad this time around, hopes are high that 2024-25 could bring progress. There are several questions to answer, though, particularly after the big-money sales of Max Kilman and Pedro Neto.

1. Who Can Replace Pedro Neto?

Neto’s departure is the best place to start after Wolves sanctioned his club-record sale to Chelsea, receiving £51.4 million plus bonuses for the jet-heeled winger.

Having arrived at Molineux a talented yet raw teenager in 2019, Neto leaves as one of the Premier League’s top creative forces, albeit one too often stunted by fitness concerns.

Last season, Neto laid on nine assists in just 20 Premier League appearances totalling 1,518 minutes. Among all players in the competition to play at least 1,500 minutes, Neto averaged the most assists per 90, with 0.42. Of the 11 players to tee up more goals for teammates, only Kevin De Bruyne – who supplied a frankly ludicrous 10 in 1,227 minutes – spent less time on the pitch than Neto.

2. How Far Can Matheus Cunha Go?

Ranking fourth for average carry distance among all Premier League players in 2023-24? That would be Cunha, who also averaged more progress upfield (10.0 metres) per carry than Neto (9.0m).

Cunha initially struggled when brought in on loan by Lopetegui in the second half of 2022-23, but the Brazil international has relished the way O’Neil gives his attackers freedom to improvise and rotate. His total of 19 goal involvements in 2023-24 (12 goals, seven assists) was the third highest by a Wolves player in any Premier League season, after Raúl Jiménez in 2019-20 (23) and 2018-19 (20).

Like Neto, Cunha saw his season stunted by injury at a crucial point, missing six league games (and a chastening FA Cup quarter-final loss to Coventry City) due to a hamstring problem he sustained in February.

Of all the injury blows Wolves suffered last term, Cunha’s was arguably the most telling, with Wolves averaging 1.5 goals per league game when the Brazilian started and just 0.8 without him.

Whether fielded on the left or behind the striker, Cunha plays a vital, all-round role in Wolves’ offensive efforts, recording more attacking sequence involvements (116) than any of his teammates last season despite his advanced position and the fact he was limited to 2,453 Premier League minutes.

3. Will ‘Gazball’ Become More Defined?

It seems a long time ago, but O’Neil struggled to win fans over at the outset of his reign, with an early League Cup exit to Ipswich Town prompting fierce criticism last September.

However, Wolves then immediately kick-started their campaign by beating Man City, and a comeback victory over his former employers Bournemouth three weeks later provided further vindication for O’Neil.

After that 2-1 win on the south coast, O’Neil made a memorable appearance on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football programme, winning admirers as he dissected those victories and explained his coaching philosophy.

4. Are the Days of 3-4-3 Over?

“With five at the back, and pace in attack, we’re Wolverhampton, we’re on our way back”, was a familiar refrain among the Molineux masses as Nuno Espírito Santo oversaw back-to-back seventh-place finishes in 2018-19 and 2019-20.

Ever since those halcyon days, Wolves have been synonymous with a 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 shape. Nuno himself attempted to transition to a back four in 2020-21, but successor Bruno Lage – much like O’Neil last term – ditched the experiment when it became clear he lacked centre-backs capable of dominating one-on-one.

Flexibility has been the name of the game for O’Neil, with his 3-4-3 often resembling a 4-4-2 when out of possession as the left wing-back – typically Rayan Aït-Nouri – pushes on with left-sided centre-back Toti Gomes shifting across.

5. Have Wolves Found the Striker They Need?

Wolves started 2023-24 hoping it might finally be Fábio Silva’s season, four years on from his £35m arrival from Porto, only for the Portuguese striker to fail to net in eight league outings. Six-foot-seven target man Sasa Kalajdzic made his mark with late winners at Everton and Bournemouth, but by February, both players had been jettisoned out on loan.

The fluidity of Wolves’ attack was generally a strength in O’Neil’s first season at the helm, with Cunha (19), Hwang (15), Neto and Sarabia (both 11) all cracking double figures for Premier League goal involvements.

However, as injuries derailed Wolves’ push for Europe in the spring, there was a nagging sense that the failure to add a traditional number nine in January had left them short. Chelsea’s Armando Broja was a deadline-day target, only for financial concerns to prevent Wolves from striking a deal as he was instead loaned to Fulham.

With Daniel Podence and Gonçalo Guedes also back from loan spells and featuring in pre-season, Wolves’ attacking depth is suddenly better than it has been for some time. If O’Neil gets the balance right, a comfortable improvement on 14th could be within Wolves’ grasp.