“I want to achieve something with Wolverhampton, I want to go to Europe with the team.”
Hwang Hee-chan (27, Wolverhampton Wanderers) has outlined his goals for next season and effectively confirmed his stay at the club.
Wolverhampton released a transcript of an interview with Hwang on 7 July (KST). The club said, “Hwang Hee-chan scored four goals last season despite struggling with injury problems. He was happy to help the team stay in the top flight, but he believes Wolverhampton can finish higher next season,” the club said.
“We didn’t have a great start to the season. We didn’t win many games in the first 10, and we lost a lot of games. But we tried to recover,” he recalled.스포츠토토
True to his word, Wolverhampton fell into a serious early slump. They won just one, drew three and lost four of their first eight league games, dropping to 18th place. Eventually, the club decided to sack manager Bruno Raz after eight rounds.
Then the rebound began. With Julen Lopetegui as their firebrand manager, Wolverhampton began to come alive, and as a result, they racked up points and finished the season in 13th place with 41 points (11 wins, 8 draws, and 19 losses).
“After the winter break and after the World Cup, we stayed in the Premier League, played well and did what we wanted to do, which wasn’t easy, so it was a very good moment for us,” said Hwang. “In the second half of the season, we played really well at home and enjoyed the time with the fans, their support was very big and helped us a lot. We are very happy to stay in the Premier League.”
Hwang went on to credit his teammates and their bond as the key to their rebound. “We always felt we had enough quality to stay up,” he said. “We have a lot of good players in the team, but the main part was the belief and chemistry between the players. We tried to spend time together outside of training. “We tried to spend time together outside of training, which helped us bond as a team,” he explains, “and that’s why we were able to rebound well and win the games we needed to win to stay in the competition.
Finally, Hwang revealed his goals for next season. “This season, we didn’t play our best game. But we have a lot of good players and we can do more than we showed. My goal for next season is to reach the top of the table.”
Hwang also expressed his love for the team and dismissed transfer speculation. He has recently been linked with AS Roma, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur. With Wolverhampton also needing to offload some players to comply with Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, the transfer speculation has become even more intense.
However, Hwang said: “We have the ability to fight for a high position. I want to achieve something with Wolverhampton, I want to go to Europe with the team, we have to aim high,” he said, putting the rumours to rest.
Meanwhile, Hwang Hee-chan returned home at the end of last season. After a short break, he will join Klinsmann’s squad to prepare for the two A matches in June. The national team will face Peru in Busan on 16 June before travelling to Daejeon on 20 June for a friendly against El Salvador.