Steve Bull: Great to Wolves sign Hwang but we’ve lost talent in Traore
As one player comes through the door – sort of – another one is on his way out.
I was happy to see Hwang Hee-chan become a permanent Wolves player but disappointed to see Adama Traore is making his exit.
I think Traore is an excellent talent and I wanted to see him stay at Molineux, but players moving on is part of football.
As a player he wants game-time and Traore has been a bit-part player on the bench for most of the season.
He isn’t getting that game time at Wolves. He is a big influence for the club when he comes off the bench, but as a player he will want to play from the start.
Traore doesn’t seem to be in line for a starting XI spot under Bruno Lage and he is probably frustrated with that.
A move to Barcelona is a great move for him and Wolves not selling to Spurs, who are a rival for the European spots, is also a good move.
I would have liked to see him stay, but with him all the best in his move.
With Hwang, I felt it was smart business from Wolves to finalise his permanent move after his loan.
I think he is a tricky player who is strong, mobile and quick on his feet.
It was unfortunate to see him get a hamstring problem but he will come through that and it is nice to see him targeting a return to training next week.
He has earned his contract in the games he has played and has had a great influence on the side.
When people come on loan it always feel like they’re a permanent signing anyway, especially when you see them playing in the Wolves colours. But putting pen to paper on a deal means security for both him and the club.
If you’re going from club to club it’s a hard process – you don’t know whether you’re coming or going.
The old saying ‘home is where you hang your hat’ is certainly true for a player moving to a new country.
They need the opportunity to settle and make a new life and Hwang now has that.
Moving the family over is a big thing, too, and hopefully he can do that and make Wolves his permanent home.
It’s good for him and the club to have that because it’s so important for a player to settle in.
If you have family in a different country – or even down in London or up in Scotland – it’s an upheaval to find that balance.
You do miss your family, every player does, and they can’t wait to be with them.
In my eyes it will be great for Hwang and Wolves might even get more out of him as a player.
Although they are very different players, it could help bridge the gap with Traore leaving – and of course Pedro Neto is still to come back from injury.
Bruno is a big fan of Hwang and hopefully he can get the best out of him, but I’m not sure he walks straight into the starting XI.
We have some players coming back and have an absolutely unbelievable front line of players fighting for places, which is absolutely brilliant for the club.
Meanwhile, I was happy to see the Premier League rule change mean clubs must have a minimum of four Covid cases to apply to postpone a game.
Many teams have got games postponed due to player shortages, although Wolves have been reluctant to do it.
Hopefully it will stop teams from trying to call games off when they have more than enough players to play. With all these postponements, it just causes a backlog of games – and then they’ll all be moaning that there’s too many games in a short space of time!
Clubs should be getting on with it. Make sure you have a big enough squad to cope with any players who miss games and just get on with playing football.
I understand it does not stop people getting Covid, but I would always say to players that they have to get their vaccinations.
For safety it makes sense but hopefully it can allow players to keep playing football. It makes sense to me that clubs should get all their players vaccinated to try and avoid any problems.
