Hwang Hee-chan: New boss Julen Lopetegui has inspired confidence in Wolves

Wolves may have ended 2022 with a loss to Manchester United, but an improved performance has left many optimistic.

Several members of the squad have spoken glowingly of Lopetegui’s methods and Hwang believes everyone is eager to improve.

Hwang said: “He is a very intelligent manager. Everyone knows him from his time at Real Madrid and with Spain.

“I can learn a lot from him. He explains things in great detail.

“Today’s result was not good and not what we wanted but we played well in the first-half.

“However, we can do better. What’s important now is we keep fighting.

“After we won at Everton the manager said this is not all we have, we can still improve a lot on this.

“The way he talks to us inspires confidence and we trust him when he says we can play an even higher level.”

Hwang has started the last two Premier League games and has been picked over players such as Goncalo Guedes and Adama Traore.

When asked if keeping his place has inspired more confidence in him personally, Hwang added: “Yes, it’s been good for me.

“When I met him, within two or three days I knew exactly what I had to do because he explained everything to me in great detail.

“That has given me a lot of confidence and now I want to fight for my team but I also want to fight for him (Lopetegui).”

Hwang and his fellow Wolves forwards will now be given even more competition for places with the arrival of Matheus Cunha.

The Atletico Madrid attacker has signed on-loan until the end of the season, but he will make a club record £43million move to Wolves in the summer.

Now that the January transfer window is open, Cunha’s deal is official and he can start training with the squad ahead of the trip to Villa on Wednesday.

When asked if his arrival will raise standards and competition, Hwang said: “Yes. He also played for Leipzig in Germany, and Berlin, we also played against each other for our national teams when we played Brazil.

“So I know him very well. He is a very nice guy and a good player. I am looking forward to playing with him.”