Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Sasa Kalajdzic opened up about the departure of former coach Julen Lopetegui and shared his perspective on the changes under new manager Gary O'Neil.
The Spanish manager, who had taken charge of the team midway through the previous season and steered them to a 13th-place finish, left the club just before the start of the new season.
His exit was reportedly triggered by disagreements with the club's ownership over the direction they were taking. The optimism that had surrounded the team's future was clouded by heavy spending in the January transfer window, leading to the need to trim the squad and reduce expenses in the summer.
Several high-profile players also departed, and the former coach was informed that no new signings would be brought in to replace them. T
These circumstances led to a rift between the 57-year-old, with Lopetegui expressing his frustrations over the lack of transfer activity during the summer and feeling that the situation had changed from what he had been previously informed.
In a recent interview with Sky Sport Austria's "DAB|Der Audiobeweis" podcast (h/t Sport Witness, the Austria international stated:
“I can’t say anything about what the deeper reason was. The differences in the various opinions may have played a role. But I don’t know, I think it’s a shame too. I did the preparation under Lopetegui, and he led us to stay in the league last year.
“As a player I can’t comment on that and it’s not my job. On the other hand, Gary O’Neil was coach at Bournemouth, so it wasn’t his first job.
“The new coach was also thrown into the deep end after preparation under Julen Lopetegui.
“My job is to keep the height and make the game as wide as possible so that the players around me have space. I’m there to score the goals and the other players should play around me.
“In training he often plays along when he wants to talk about his tactics. If something doesn’t go well, he’ll play along too. You can see that he played at a certain level.”
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