Express & Star

Gary O'Neil heaps praise on 'incredibly selfless' Wolves midfielder

Wolves boss Gary O’Neil has heaped praise on ‘incredibly selfless’ Mario Lemina for being willing to sacrifice his position for the team.

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The midfielder played on the left wing in the win over Fulham and could be needed outside of his natural position in the coming weeks due to injuries elsewhere.

And O’Neil has nothing but praise for the 30-year-old for willing to step in and lead the team.

“He can play as a deep-lying midfielder, definitely, and he’s very good at it,” O’Neil said.

“But he has quality and physical attributes that allow him to play higher up the pitch if we need him to.

“In the last couple we’ve needed him to a little bit more.

“I’ve spoken to Mario quite a bit about it. I know he can do both and I know maybe he’d prefer to do more of one than the other, but he understands at times the team will need him to do the other things.

“He’s an incredibly selfless guy who will sacrifice himself. If I told him he’s going to play somewhere where he might only get a 4/10 in the paper tomorrow, but we’re going to win the game, he would definitely do that for us.

“Maybe in goal is the only place he’d get a 4/10, the rest he’s probably better than that!

“He would happily sacrifice his own performance and what people think of him, to help the team, which is what we need sometimes.

“He’s a good guy and a really good senior player to have in the group, because he does push the group. We’re going to need him to keep doing so.”