EPL Transfer Spotlight: Wolves’ Hwang Hee-chan

We continue our Transfer Spotlight series with Wolves “new-boy”, Hwang Hee-chan. The South Korean forward is already known to the Wolves fans and the Premier League after featuring last season on loan. Hwang now joins the West Midlands club permanently for a fee of around £14 from German side, RB Leipzig. His contract will run till 2026.

Background

Hwang is a 26 year-old forward who, prior to his loan to Wolves, spent the last few years plying his trade in Germany, featuring for Bundesliga sides RB Leipzig and Hamburger SV. Prior to this he spent the majority of his professional years in Austria, spending the majority of his time at Red Bull Salzburg on loan at FC Liefering.

As mentioned in the introduction, Hwang is already known to the Premier League after having spent all of last season with Wolves. Hwang is a capped international for South Korea and has almost 50 appearances to his name. Hwang is a versatile forward and can play anywhere across the front line, but he typically operates just off the main striker in a front two or three on the left hand side, offering pace in behind the defenders.

Fantasy Prospects

Hwang had a decent scoring record when he was in Austria, notching 45 goals in 126 appearances. Of course translating overseas success to Premier League is always an uncertain proposition, but thankfully, due to his loan spell we already have a decent indication of how he will perform moving forward.

Last season Hwang came into the FPL game with a budget price tag of £5.5mil, which is most likely where he’ll begin this season as well. He started life brightly in England, scoring from the bench in his debut in game-week 4. Three game-weeks later he scored a brace in the victory over Newcastle, linking up well with main striker Raul Jimenez. He followed up with another goal in game-week 9 but then didn’t produce any attacking returns until game-week 20. He finished the campaign with 5 goals plus an assist.

A player’s first season in the Premier League is often very much transitional, and Hwang’s aggressive style does suit the league. So it’s not unreasonable to expect improvement upon his fantasy production from last season. But Hwang will have to compete with the likes of Jimenez, Pedro Neto, Daniel Podence, and Adama Traore (although Traore could depart this summer for Barcelona. Or maybe professional bodybuilding).

Consequently, despite his bargain-basement price tag, Hwang’s minutes and therefore his productivity may not be sufficient to convince suitors to invest.

What are your thoughts on Wolves’s new boy? Will he improve from last season’s campaign? Would you consider him in your Fantasy team? Please let us know in the comments below!

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