One Wolves player who has been linked with an exit has appeared to suggest he will not be leaving the club, at least for the moment.
Gary O’Neil is hoping for a productive summer after guiding Wolves to a 14th-placed finish in 2023/24.
The 41-year-old obviously replaced Julen Lopetegui just days before the new season started, and did a very respectable job in the end.
Wolves might have finished higher in the table had it not been for injuries and a string of VAR decisions going against the club.
Ultimately, the injuries to key players such as Matheus Cunha, Hwang Hee-chan and Pedro Neto really stung, with O’Neil simply not having good enough strength in depth.
But one man who did a decent job in the absence of those key players at times was Pablo Sarabia. The Spaniard has actually been linked with an exit from Molineux in recent times – but it doesn’t seem like the player is ready to depart at the moment…
Pablo Sarabia hints he could be staying at Wolves for one more season
Sarabia ended up becoming a pretty important player for O’Neil in 2023/24.
He started the season mainly as a substitute, with O’Neil clearly favouring the more mobile players like Hwang, Cunha and Neto.
With those three up top, Wolves arguably looked their most dangerous.
But Neto’s first hamstring injury allowed Sarabia to come into the starting XI. He was then able to stay there when Hwang and Cunha picked up hamstring injuries of their own.
In the end, Sarabia made 36 appearances for Wanderers, scoring four goals and making 10 assists. Just 10 Wolves players in the squad ended up playing more minutes than him.
Sarabia has recently been linked with an exit from Wolves. Apparently, the club would be open to offloading him to save on the wage bill. Turkish giants Besiktas has previously been credited with an interest.
But he has now made some comments to suggest he won’t be departing. He told the club’s official website: “I needed to adapt to the Premier League, this kind of league, but also the ideas of the coach and the city.
“Everything is hard, but now I think it’s a very good moment for me, for my family, for everyone because we’ve adapted in difficult situations, but we did and because of this I’m very happy here.”
Sarabia could still go
Sarabia’s comments here don’t suggest that he’s looking to leave the club this summer. He seemingly now feels he has adapted to the Premier League and wants to stick around.
That said, this does not necessarily mean Sarabia won’t end up leaving this summer.
Ultimately, every player has their price – and Fosun might be open to selling if the right offer comes in this summer.
Sarabia is Wolves’ highest earner on around £90,000 per week, and getting him off the books would free up some more money.
Wolves fans are fairly split about Sarabia these days, so if he did go there would likely be a fairly mixed reaction. There is an appreciation for him as a technician and creator. But some are not fans of his tendency to slow play down and languid style.