Gary O'Neil furious as Wolves transfer flaw exposed by Aston Villa

Wolverhampton Wanderers suffered another second-half Premier League capitulation on Saturday as they threw away their lead to lose 3-1 to local rivals Villa.

The Old Gold played brilliantly for around 65 minutes before Villa began to surpass what had been a sturdy defensive line. Ollie Watkins equalised in the 73rd minute and then the floodgates opened as Ezri Konsa and Jhon Duran netted one each to secure all three points for the hosts.

One important moment was sandwiched between the first and second Villa goals as Wolves central defender Yerson Mosquera was forced off with what appeared to be a serious knee injury. From that moment on, Wanderers lost their composure and defensive resilience, opening up a fairly simple route to victory for Villa.

It’s not the only time this season that Wolves have fallen apart in a second half. Against Chelsea, the Old Gold were level at 2-2 at the break but went on to lose 6-2. Then, the clash with Newcastle United a few weeks later - also at Molineux - saw Wolves lose 2-1 despite leading for much of the game.

O’Neil takes responsibility for his team’s catalogue of errors to start the 2024/25 term but wants to ensure it’s public knowledge that his transfer wishes were not granted.

“It’s an area we were already short in off the back of the transfer window closing and not one we could afford to lose,” O’Neil said after the Villa defeat.

“It would be a big blow for us to lose him [Mosquera] for a significant period of time, obviously it’s an area of the pitch we’re already short in and he was performing in a very high level for us.”

Just a week earlier, after the 2-1 loss to Newcastle, O’Neil said: “We took a big of a sideways turn in the transfer window and signed a central midfielder even though it wasn’t the plan because we planned on business in other areas.”

Andre, a £21 million signing from Fluminense, is the acquisition O’Neil alluded to. Although a player who has already impressed and one with sky-high potential, he’s not the central defender Wolves so desperately needed.

Not replacing Max Kilman was frowned upon at the time and that transfer flaw has only been exposed further by the issues displayed at Villa Park. If Mosquera’s injury is as serious as first feared, Wolves could find themselves in even bigger trouble defensively than they already are.