Gary O’Neil says it’s the perfect stage of Mario Lemina’s career to step into captaincy.
The midfielder was confirmed as the club’s new captain while on pre-season in the United States, having been a big influence on the dressing room since joining in January 2023. O’Neil’s arrival only boosted Lemina’s Wolves career further, and now he’ll be driving standards, growing as a captain and leading the Old Gold out each week as O’Neil’s full-time skipper.
On making Lemina captain
“He was a standout choice for me. We have some real good leaders in the group, and I’ll definitely lean on all of them throughout the season, but I think Mario with where he is, it’s really good timing for him. He has big respect from the players, around all the different groups, and manages to get on well with loads of them and drives standards.
“As a player, you go through spells in your career of being young and full of potential, to being an established starter, and then you go into the leadership category. I feel Mario was in that already and this confirms it for him and gives him a real drive and focus on what he needs to be for the group now.
“We had a little chat to check his thinking and he was really pleased and excited, and he’s done it really well since he’s taken over the last few weeks. He’s been excellent. I thought it would help him make the next step from established player to leader, and the early signs have been really positive – he’s been excellent so far.”
On Lemina transitioning
“Mario knew about it fairly early. With the players coming back at different times, making an announcement was tricky. I’d have liked to wait until we were all together as a group, but it’s not always possible to do them in the perfect way. Nelson, Joao, Sa and Pedro are not back yet, but Mario’s known about it, and he’s been putting things in place that he thinks are important for him and the group.
“He’s very good at portraying the messages that we want and what the group likes. I’m excited to see what we can do, what Mario can do, and how the group can perform this year with Mario as their captain.”
Toti and Mario in Miami.
— Wolves (@Wolves) July 25, 2024
🇺🇸😃 pic.twitter.com/egPGtDASHy
On comparisons to himself
“Mario’s far better than I was, but there’s stuff that I can help Mario with, which I like about him. He does have differences to me and what I was, and I think together we can come up with some really good stuff that can help. This will really help him – he’ll help us firstly as staff, Mario will definitely help us, he’ll take care of a lot of stuff within the group without it coming to us.
“I think I can help him with his next step and what it looks like and hopefully he can improve his performance levels again because he knows he’s hugely respected and he’s being looked at as a leader all the time, and how important that is. It’s really exciting and he’s made a really good start.”
On leaders across the group
“There are good leaders. They can be an emotional group, they can be very up and down with results and things go against, but we’re working hard on that. We’re not taking that emotion away from them because that can be powerful at times, but we’re trying to control it on and off the pitch.
“This week’s a good one for them, we’re in Miami, but we have work to do so they need to find the right balance. Of course, I’ll give them some free time, but they need to refocus when it’s time to work.”
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