As Wolves haven’t had the best of starts to life this Premier League season with manager Gary O’Neil stressing from game one that things needed to change defensively for the team, what could they be after in the January transfer market and how important could the recruitment be?
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00:00So Charles, looking ahead to the January Chancellor window, of course, coming up for all clubs
00:06across the country, but for Wolves in particular, it will be an interesting one. I think certainly
00:11buying is something they need to do, given the fact that they have been languishing towards
00:15the bottom of the Premier League table so far this season. Let's be honest, it hasn't
00:19been good enough from a lot of players. You've had standout players, such as Mateusz Kunia,
00:23and of course, keeping a hold of someone like that will be equally important as bringing
00:26in others as well. But certainly, there are places in that squad and positions that need
00:33strengthening because some players just aren't performing, whether that just be the way they're
00:37either underperforming in themselves and they could do better, or they're clearly just not
00:40up to that ability and that standard for what Wolves need to survive this season. So Gary
00:46O'Neill and the recruitment team have got a bit of a task ahead of them in January,
00:49of course, and that depends on how many funds and how much fund is available to spend from
00:54the ownership. Because of course, you have sold players in previous windows, big players,
01:00I think of Pedro Neto, I think of Raúl Jiménez, of course, to name a couple. So yeah, what's
01:05the air and do you think it actually, despite Wolves definitely needing some players, is
01:09it likely they'll bring some in and will funds be made available?
01:13Well I think they have to. Obviously, quite clearly, defensive issues have been the main
01:18key. They didn't get a centre-back over the line in the summer, despite selling. There
01:26weren't incredible players in Nathan Collins and previous to that, Connor Cody, Willy Bollie,
01:32they've all gone over the last four or five years for Wolves. You see them now, they are
01:38shining obviously. Collins starts for Brentford, Cody involved with Leicester, Willy Bollie
01:44reunited with Nuno Espirito, Santo at Nottingham Forest. Yes, he doesn't start all the time,
01:49but these are numbers, these are bodies at the back for Wolves and they've just slowly
01:52depleted over the last few seasons. The windows just haven't been good enough in terms of
01:58recruiting a centre-back. They've made it so, so clear and O'Neill has made his thoughts
02:04clear and it's a real importance that they get a centre-back in. They struggled to do
02:11it in the summer, they had little to no funds to go and express themselves, despite selling
02:17the key stars like Pedro Neto. You look at these players who will sell, these are players
02:23who get you out when you do have defensive issues. You can always get away with having
02:29a poorer defence because these players will help you outscore teams and they'll help you
02:33get over the line despite having a bad defensive record. Mateus Cunha has been that man this
02:41season for Wolves, but it can only last so long where you don't have solidity at the
02:47back to make sure they have a big January window, which historically under Fosun they
02:51haven't. So they've got to turn the tables on that and make sure they get a centre-back
02:56in. That has to be a top priority.