Football
Gabriel Tan 3y

Hwang Hee-chan must aim to avoid Minamino fate after sealing Premier League move

When Red Bull Salzburg made their UEFA Champions League group-stage appearance during the 2019/20 season, it was their trio of attacking talents that led them to impressive results against Europe's finest.

A narrow defeat in a seven-goal thriller against Liverpool is the match that immediately comes to mind, but there was also a creditable 1-1 draw against Napoli and commanding 6-2 and 4-1 victories over Genk, as the Austrian outfit finished third in Group E of that season's UCL campaign.

The three standouts, of course, have since moved on to greener pastures.

Erling Haaland no longer needs any introduction as he has now established himself as one of world football's leading strikers with Borussia Dortmund, while Takumi Minamino earned himself a transfer to Liverpool.

The third -- South Korea international Hwang Hee-chan -- initially moved on to the German Bundesliga with RB Leipzig, but will spend the rest of this season in England on loan at Wolves.

Hwang will have to be careful to not follow the same path as former teammate and fellow Asian star Minamino.

Signing for Liverpool at the start of 2020 would have been a dream come true for the Japanese attacker, and he had displayed sufficient potential to suggest he could prove to be a savvy signing for just £7.25 million.

However, with just 19 league appearances for the Reds since then -- the majority coming as a substitute -- followed by a loan spell to Southampton in the second half of last season, it now appears that a move to a club of Liverpool's stature may have been a step too soon in Minamino's career.

Faced with the near-impossible task of forcing his way into Jurgen Klopp's attack at the expense of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane or Roberto Firmino, Minamino has now fallen behind Diogo Jota and Harvey Elliott in the pecking order.

Competition for places at Wolves is not quite as intense, but Bruno Lage has a wealth of options at his disposal. Raul Jimenez, Adama Traore, Pedro Neto, Fabio Silva and Daniel Podence can all deliver at the Premier League level.

So while Hwang can be optimistic that he will get a chance in the starting XI, he will have to be ready to seize any opportunity with both hands.

The positive for the 25-year-old is that he does seem perfect for the English game.

While Minamino, languid in his style of play and slightly lightweight, struggled to cope with the intensity and physicality of the Premier League, the powerfully-built Hwang -- known for his robust and combative displays -- should have no such problems.

It was this very graft to his game that made him such an important player in that Salzburg side, but also perhaps caused him to be overshadowed by Haaland and Minamino as his hard work then allowed the other two to apply the finishing touches to many an attack.

Now that he has made it to the Premier League, playing for a club where he should get plenty of opportunities, Hwang now has a real chance to shine in his own right and perhaps even surpass one of his former teammates.

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