Wolves made a Premier League manager their top priority to replace Julen Lopetegui after he left the club in August, according to a report.

Lopetegui joined Wolves last November but lasted less than a year at the club, leaving by mutual consent on August 8, three days before the new Premier League season kicked off.

In a club statement, the Molineux outfit revealed that the Spanish head coach left due to ‘differences of opinion on certain issues’.

It had been reported that Lopetegui was unhappy with the club’s financial situation, which hindered his ability to bring in new players over the summer.

Wolves quickly appointed former Bournemouth boss Gary O’Neil but it has been revealed that he was not the top candidate for the job.

According to Football Insider, Luton Town’s Rob Edwards was ‘in contention to take over at Wolves’ before the appointment of O’Neil.

The Wolves hierarchy apparently made Edwards the ‘leading contender’ and ‘the main rival’ to the ex-Cherries manager.

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They ‘abandoned their pursuit’ of the Luton boss, however, because of ‘the hurdles in poaching’ him from another Premier League side so close to the start of the new season.

Edwards spent four years at Wolves during his playing days and began his coaching career in the club’s youth ranks.

And in October 2016, he had two matches in charge as interim manager following Walter Zenga’s sacking.

After a great stint in charge of Forest Green Rovers, Edwards was handed the Watford job, which as it does every single time, did not end well.

Fittingly after being given little time at Vicarage Road, he left for their biggest rivals, Luton, and guided them to promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs.

The Hatters are being widely tipped to go straight back down to the Championship, with Garth Crooks making the bold statement that they will be relegated by Christmas.

That is never going to happen and Edwards has since called Crooks out for his “disrespectful” comments.

“I think it was disrespectful but we have reached out to Mr Crooks and asked him to come in and show him what we do and why maybe we are not a team just to be laughed at and not taken seriously,” Edwards said ahead of his side’s Premier League clash at Fulham last Saturday.

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The article Premier League boss was Wolves’ ‘main contender’ before turning to O’Neil amid ‘poaching’ fears appeared first on Football365.com.