One goal in 33 games; £20m striker Leeds want is in terrible form

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If any statistic sums up the size of the task facing Julen Lopetegui at Wolverhampton Wanderers, it’s this.

It is now 24 Premier League games, The Athletic say, since a striker found the net for a toothless, neutered Wolves outfit who’s bark is proving to be far worse than their bite. 

And while Raul Jimenez and Sasa Kalajdzic have missed many of those 24 games through injury – and while Diego Costa understandably looks a little rusty following almost a year out of the game – Hwang Hee Chan can have no such excuses. 

Hwang’s only goal in his last 33 matches came against eight months ago, in a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal. In fact, the South Korea international scored more goals in his first four league games than in 33 since.

Leeds United reportedly want Wolves striker Hwang Hee-Chan

So reports suggesting that Leeds United could make a fresh approach for Hwang in January, having shown a sustained interest in the £20 million former RB Leipzig frontman over the summer, probably require some re-thinking (GMS).

A reliable penalty-box presence could be the difference between staying up and going down this season. Hwang, however, has done little at Molineux to suggest that – despite previously working with Jesse Marsch at Salzburg – he would represent a substantial upgrade on the admittedly paper-thin options currently available to the American tactician at Elland Road. 

“He missed a penalty (against Preston North End in the EFL Cup). And he made that mistake against Newcastle. But I am still very happy with him,” former Wolves boss Bruno Lage said back in September; suggesting that the uncertainty over Hwang’s future had contributed to his slow start to the new campaign. 

“Bad things sometimes happen because there is too much talk around the player. This is not good for the player when there is a lot of talk about him. I don’t know if any (offer) came. Nothing helped him in the last two months, so that’s why I’m happy the transfer window has finished.” 

It is now over two months since the window closed, and over two months since Lage made those comments. If such speculation really was proving to be a distraction for at the time, what excuse can he really have now?