Wolves keen to keep O'Hara

Published May. 26, 2011 1:15 p.m. ET

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The Midlands club had the option to sign O'Hara full-time this summer if he impressed after his January switch from White Hart Lane. O'Hara stated after Sunday's game with Blackburn that he was keen to stay at Molineux and that a fee had been agreed when he joined. Now McCarthy has echoed those sentiments and said: "We've got a deal to do and I want to keep Jamie. "He wants to stay and I think we will be doing it (the deal)." O'Hara has scored three times in his 13 appearances for Wolves, including one against Blackburn which helped to keep the club in the Premier League. McCarthy said: "I think Jamie has shown his quality since he has been here. I thought he was outstanding on Sunday. "He's what I call a real Premier League player and that's what we will be trying to recruit again this summer." Wolves will report back for pre-season training on July 4 - a week later than if they had been relegated to the Championship. Meanwhile, Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey has pledged to strengthen the squad after guaranteeing a third season of Premier League football. He said: "It was always in our plans if we stayed in the league to try and strengthen the squad. "We will try and do that reasonably and sensibly and with something that's sustainable as we have always done. "But we have to always try and move forward and that does mean trying to improve year on year. "We knew the league was going to be tougher this season and actually managed to improve our points tally from 38 to 40. "We have some targets in mind but we'll only really talk about them once we've done [the deals]." Moxey added: "We always felt it was going to be a very tough season as the second season in the Premier League often is. "Now we can look forward to next season and try and improve thereon. Having survived again, we hope it gets slightly easier in the third season. "The players get used to being Premier League players but it will still be difficult I am sure."