Bruno Lage has heaped praise on Hwang Hee-chan, branding the South Korea international ‘a top professional’.
The Wolves manager has moved to speak positively about the 26-year-old, who endured a poor second half of 2021/22.
Hwang made a fantastic start to life at Molineux, after joining on loan from RB Leipzig.
He scored four goals in his first seven appearances, and looked to be a player who could really address Wolves’ goalscoring issues.
But Hwang would suffer an injury in December that would rule him out for a couple of months.
While he was sidelined, Wolves announced they would be signing the player permanently this summer. It’s thought he will cost £14 million.
Since returning to action, Hwang has left a lot to be desired with his performances.
He scored just one more goal against Arsenal back in February, and struggled to make much of an impact for the rest of the season.
He has frustrated with his decision-making and loose touch, but Lage has come out in defence of the star ahead of Wolves buying the player.
He said before the game with Liverpool (via Birmingham Mail): “For us and Hwang the challenge is to be consistent like he was in the first half of the season when he was very good. He had some bad luck, if you remember when he returned he played Everton and needed to come out after 10 minutes with injury. These kinds of things make players lose a little bit of confidence and consistency in their game.
“I’m very happy with him – even now more happy because last week, as you know, it was my birthday and he gave me a box of cookies. He’s a lovely guy and a top professional. I see him at three o’clock, four o’clock in the club recovering, having treatments to be fit. That’s the kind of mentality and competitiveness we want in our squad.”
Hwang Hee-chan needs to improve for Wolves in 2022/23, as Lage brands winger ‘a top professional’
Hwang’s decline in the second half of 2021/22 for Wolves was quite alarming.
He was brilliant at first, and surely he was only going to get better the more time he spent in the Premier League.
But that wasn’t the case and he really regressed for some reason, to the point where some fans are now wondering why the club are buying him.
That decision has been made, and Hwang will need to drastically improve next season.