Gary O'Neil confirms shock Wolves leadership change after West Ham controversy

Mario Lemina has been stripped of the Wolves captaincy with Nelson Semedo set to take the armband, starting with the hosting of Ipswich this weekend.

Head coach Gary O’Neil has stressed the importance of maximising the potential of the squad and he believes a change of leadership is necessary to achieve that. The problems at the football club are of course much broader - not least the approach in the transfer market - but subtle adjustments could make a difference.

Lemina no doubt has the passion to carry out captain duties but he let his emotions get the better of him after the 2-1 defeat at West Ham United. O’Neil hasn’t confirmed that to be the reason behind the change, but it’s likely to have had an influence.

Explaining the decision, O’Neil said: “The discussions with Mario were good. We get on very, very well. He’s been a big part of what we’ve been able to do here, and we have a large amount of respect for each other. Sometimes you can come out of these discussions in a really good spot, and I think that we have.

“I have a lot of respect for Mario, and what he’s still going to be able to do for us. When we get the best out of him on the pitch his level is so high, and he’s still going to play a big part for us which he’s extremely keen to do. He’ll still be around the senior group that leads the team, but at this moment we feel it’s best for Nelson to lead the group.

“The most important thing is us getting the best out of everybody – getting the best out of Mario Lemina week in, week out, the same for Nelson and the rest of the group. We dealt with it earlier in the week and the focus since has been purely on Ipswich, Mario’s ready, Nelson’s ready and the rest of the players are ready.”