Wolves in talks to sign Champions League winner who’d upgrade on Hwang

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What an instantaneous impact Vítor Pereira has made at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

When Gary O’Neil was sacked in mid-December, Wolves had just lost four successive Premier League matches, winning only three of their last 26, dating back to early-March.

Thus, few would’ve forecast Pereira’s reign would commence with back-to-back victories, hammering Leicester and then toppling Manchester United on Boxing Day, before earning a credible 2-2 draw with Spurs last Sunday; Jørgen Strand Larsen lashing home a late equaliser from an acute angle in North London.

Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Vitor Pereira reacts after the match

However, ahead of Monday night’s clash with Nottingham Forest at Molineux, only goal difference is keeping Wolves out of the bottom three, meaning supporters are certainly still concerned.

After this, the Old Gold’s next five league opponents are Newcastle, Chelsea, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Liverpool, hence why Pereira will surely be eager to strengthen his squad in January.

Champions League winner could sign for Wolves

According to reports from Turkish outlet Sabah Spor, Wolves are in talks with the agent of former Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech, to sign him.

Currently with Galatasaray, the report suggests that Ziyech is no longer training, as he seeks to force through a January move, having not even been on the bench for the Süper Lig leaders’ last three matches.

Ziyech burst onto the scene during his time with Ajax, a key figure as they reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2019, earning him a £33.6m move to Chelsea, with whom he won the Champions League, before being cast aside following the change in ownership.

The Moroccan then moved to Galatasaray in August 2023 for a fee of around £3m, most notably scoring two free-kicks in the same game as the Turkish giants held Manchester United to a 3-3 draw in the Champions League.

Now, out of favour in İstanbul, starting only three matches so far this season, Ziyech is likely to be available at a cut price. One journalist on the continent claims he will move this month “no doubt”, and Wolves seemingly lead the race to land his signature.

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How Hakim Ziyech would improve Wolves

As Sam Dean of the Telegraph documented, Ziyech earned the nickname “the Wizard of Amsterdam” during his time at Ajax, with Goal describing him as “magic”.

Now though, approaching his 32nd birthday, just how good is Ziyech, and how does he compare to Hwang Hee-chan, the player he’d surely be seeking to replace in the front three, alongside Matheus Cunha and Jørgen Strand Larsen?

Ziyech vs Hwang comparison (22/23-24/25)
Statistic	Ziyech	Hwang
Appearances	64	88
Minutes	3,130	4,876
Goals	10	21
Assists	9	7
Progressive carries	37	70
Progressive passes	71	74
Shot-creating actions	57	84
Passes into the penalty area	32	20
Crosses into the penalty area	12	5
All statistics courtesy of FBref.com

As outlined in the table, Hwang and Ziyech are very different players.

The South Korean is a goal-scoring wide-forward, netting in Wolves’ last two Premier League matches against Man United and then Tottenham.

In contrast, Ziyech is a creator, accumulating 81 assists during his time at Ajax, as well as 13 for Chelsea, underlined by his numbers when it comes to both passes and crosses into the penalty area.

Considering Wolves have the fourth-lowest xG figure of any team in the Premier League this season (19.4), a creator-in-chief could be just what Pereira’s team require this month, underlining why Ziyech could be both an opportunistic but also an astute edition in their battle against the drop.