Gary O’Neil confirms ‘disappointing’ Wolves injury blow as £15m man out of Newcastle United clash

Gary O’Neil has confirmed that Hwang Hee-chan will not feature for his side against Newcastle United after he was injured during their game against Brighton on Wednesday night. The South Korea international is Wolves’ joint-top scorer this season with 11 goals in all competitions, but will have to watch on from the sidelines this weekend.

Speaking to the media ahead of the clash at St James’ Park, O’Neil said: “Hee-chan won’t make the weekend and there will be more assessments after the weekend. For now, he’s been ruled out, which is disappointing.

“I knew there were some players that were a risk for the midweek cup game but Channy was feeling fine before. All his recovery had gone well so we felt he was able to go again.

“Obviously things like that can happen. It’s disappointing we’ve lost Channy because we know how important he can be to us.”

Asked if the club had placed a timescale on the 28-year-old’s recovery, O’Neil responded: “No, we don’t. They were just trying to figure out if we could use him for this weekend firstly. He’ll get some more results after the weekend and we’ll know a bit more. Hopefully it’s not too long, but lets see.”

Hee-chan, who has netted four times in five appearances against Newcastle United, joins fellow top scorer Matheus Cunha on the treatment table with Wolves set to travel to the north east without a recognised senior striker in their ranks. Cunha suffered a hamstring injury last month and isn’t expected to be back until after the upcoming international break.