Wolves were encouraging Sa to find himself a new club after the arrival of Sam Johnstone from Crystal Palace.
But with the Portugal goalkeeper still at Molineux, O'Neil insists: “The transfer window closing draws a line under everything and everyone knows now exactly where they are for the next three-to-four months, and they know that the only aim is to get into this team. The only aim is to help this team be successful for the next few months, which help.
“Jose has trained really well. He was away with Portugal for a significant amount of the international break, but since he's been back, he’s trained really well. He trained well again this morning, so there’s a lot of games coming up and he knows that he could be needed at any moment.
“He knows that the shirt isn't just given to Sam. Whoever wears that shirt at the weekend needs to earn it, so let’s see how that goes, but he's given himself the best chance at the moment.”