Gary O'Neil on Wolves' lack of striker signings

The club were close to getting Armando Broja but were unable to meet Chelsea's loan fee demands, while a deal for Yuri Alberto collapsed after his agent asked for more money at the last minute.

O'Neil now has a thin squad for the second half of the Premier League season.

He said: "We didn't manage to get a nine done. There were a few that I really liked and we couldn't afford any.

"We could afford some, but not ones that I thought would help us. The group is the group and we get to work on trying to maximise it."

When asked if he would have kept Sasa Kalajdzic and Fabio Silva in hindsight, O'Neil added: "I don't want to go through what ifs. It's important Sasa plays and I don't think he'd have played much for us.

"It's important that Fabio plays and he wouldn't have played much for us.

"Are we short of a number 9? Yeah. But I felt we were short of a number nine when those two were still here, so we're still short. That's where we are.

"I was really keen not to panic and just sign anyone. The financial stuff was an issue for us.

"We were speaking to Chelsea about Broja for a lot of the day. We just couldn't afford to do it financially with where it ended up.

"That's where we are as a football club, but we haven't been deducted 10 points, we're still together and putting in performances. We'll try keep moving it that way until the end of the season."

Wolves also allowed Joe Hodge to make a late switch to Championship side QPR.

O'Neil said: "Unless we have a disastrous spell, we are fairly well covered in centre midfield.

"We generally play with two. Bouba won't be away for too long and we have Joao, Mario and Tommy who have all been excellent.

"Joe really wants to play and he's at a point in his career where he needs to, and I can't guarantee that he will here.

"He's been allowed to go and play in the Championship, which is a good level for him to help him progress."

Alongside deadline day, Wolves also had to contend with a fixture against Manchester United.

After managing a 95th minute equaliser, they suffered a 97th minute goal to lose the game at the death.

"I'm disappointed but incredibly proud of some of what we managed to produce," O'Neil said.

"Resilience, togetherness, quality. There were large spells of the game where we looked close to being an excellent team and then some little bits we need to improve.

"The two goals in the second half are really disappointing because they're down to detail. A corner goal at a tough time when we lose our man strangely – it wasn't a difficult one to pick up and we lose him.

"Then the throw-in at the end, that's not how we defend throw-ins. But you are tested in the Premier League with the emotion of it.

"In the second half we were by far the better side, which takes some doing. To be heavily punished for some small errors in detail, is tough for the players to take. But I'm proud of what they managed to produce."