What's next for 'The Bull' in the Wolves' den?

Wolverhampton Wanderers' Hwang Hee-chan in action with Aston Villa's Lucas Digne at Villa Park in Birmingham, England on Jan. 4. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Hwang Hee-chan could be on the move this winter, with Leeds United reportedly still maintaining an interest in the fiery midfielder known as “The Bull.”

A potential Leeds move has been on the cards for Hwang for months, with a £17-million ($20-million) deal reportedly rejected in the summer.

Hwang, who was on loan with Wolves last season, signed a four-year contract with the club in January 2020 that officially went into effect in the summer, said to be valued at between £11.9 million and £14 million ($15 million and $17 million).

Almost immediately after the contract was signed, Hwang began a long a painful dry spell, struggling in front of goal for months. He only snapped the scoreless run, which began in February last year, on Saturday with an FA Cup goal against Liverpool, although he’s yet to repeat that performance in the Premier League.

Hwang's ongoing struggle saw him gradually slip from starting XI to the back of the bench, making only very brief appearances toward the tail end of the 2021-22 season. That’s when Leeds United emerged as a possible transfer contender, with manager Jesse Marsch made it clear he was interested in being reunited with Hwang.

Marsch was appointed as manager of Red Bull Salzburg in 2019, leading the team to win the double in his first season. Hwang was one of the three stars of Marsch's attacking line, alongside Erling Haaland, now at Manchester City, and Takumi Minamino of Monaco.

Hwang scored 11 goals in the Austrian Bundesliga that season and picked up 12 assists. He also scored three Champions League goals with five assists, an OFB Cup goal with five assists and a Europa League goal.

The potential move to Leeds appeared to be the perfect deal for everybody. Hwang clearly wasn’t flourishing under then-Wolves manager Bruno Lage — which became increasingly clear as he continued to put in impressive performance for the Korean national team even while struggling in league games — the club wasn’t getting any value from him, and Leeds were clearly interested.

When Wolves made the offer it seemed like a no-brainer, but the deal was quickly rejected with Lage maintaining that Hwang is an important part of his squad.

Some reports suggest there might have been more economic reasons that Wolves rejected the deal — possibly because Leeds were looking a loan-to-buy deal and Wolves want an immediate sale. If that was the case, the Yorkshire club has now had four months to work out a more attractive offer.

But things have also changed significantly for both Wolves and Hwang over the last few months.

At the end of November, Wolves signed former Sevilla manager Julen Lopetegui and by the time the club had returned from the World Cup break, everything had changed.

Of the five games since Lopetegui took the helm, Wolves have won two, drawn two and lost one. In all five of those games the team looked significantly improved and more confident, immediately lifting themselves out of relegation danger and back up the table.

Lopetegui also showed an immediate faith in Hwang that has been decidedly absent for the last year. The Korean midfielder stepped straight back into the starting lineup the minute the Spaniard took the helm, starting four games in a row and then coming on as a substitute against Liverpool in the FA Cup game on Saturday.

The change in Hwang’s performance was immediately obvious as well. While he had been increasingly sidelined to watching the action from afar last year, Hwang was back in the thick of the action, driving up the middle with the same relentless aggression that saw him dubbed The Bull in the first place.

Considering the change in both the squad and Hwang, it wasn’t a huge surprise that it took just a few games for him to snap that dry spell with the crucial game-tying goal against Liverpool.

With the circumstances for both Hwang and the club now looking very different, it’s unclear how attractive an offer from Leeds will appear this time around. Hwang’s stats are still nowhere near the level he or the club would be at, but there are signs of a very successful partnership with Lopetegui.

That partnership will be put to the test on Wednesday as Wolves take on Nottingham Forest in the quarterfinals of the Carabao Cup. Hwang had a hand in both goals against Gillingham in the previous round two weeks ago.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]