Solbakken admits to wolves turmoil

Wolves boss Stale Solbakken today revealed the whole club is "unsettled" with several players' futures up in the air.

Michael Kightly has been sold, while bids have been rejected for Steven Fletcher, Matt Jarvis, Dorus De Vries and Ronald Zubar. Fletcher, Jarvis and Christophe Berra all want to leave.

Fletcher has told Wolves he does not want to play for the club again and Berra was booed by fans in Saturday's Capital One Cup sudden-death 7-6 penalties win against Aldershot, while Solbakken is trying to get players to adapt to a new style of play.

It all adds up to a turbulent time as Wolves prepare for Saturday's Championship opener at Leeds, and the Norwegian admits the squad is not in the most positive frame of mind.

"We have to be honest and say everything's a little unsettled," said Solbakken. "It would be stupid to say everything is fine because it's not."

The Norwegian believes part of the problem is mental, with the stigma of relegation still affecting the players.

"There's a hangover after three years in the Premier League," he said. "It's a mentally tough situation to then go back to playing Championship football.

"We have to be honest and fight through this. My job is to try to convince everyone we can build a squad ready to challenge in maybe the toughest Championship ever.

"We have to live with all that and I think it's harder when you've come out of the Premier League.

"If I have to change players I will, but if I can do it without changing players then I will."

Solbakken stressed Wolves must be cute in the transfer market as the club waited to see if Sunderland had upped their £12m bid for Fletcher and West Ham for Jarvis.

"We're not giving players away for fun," he stressed.

"We need to make sure we're not on the back foot for the next three weeks.

"It's also a tactical thing – do you buy before you sell or do you have to sell before you buy? Is that the gamble?"

[caption id="attachment_326998" align="alignright" width="160" caption="Wolves boss Stale Solbakken "][/caption]

Meanwhile, Kevin Doyle has pulled out of Ireland's squad to face Serbia on Wednesday with a bruised leg and Stephen Ward is a doubt with a knock.