Exclusive: Gary O'Neil has say on future of Wolves attacker Hwang Hee-chan

The French club had a £21million bid rejected but remain interested in the South Korean international.

Wolves have maintained that Hwang is not for sale this summer, considering his importance to O’Neil’s attacking line-up and his commercial importance to the club as a big star in South Korea.

Now, in an exclusive interview with the Express & Star, head coach O’Neil says he is confident Hwang will be lining up in a Wolves shirt once the transfer window slams shut.

“I’m pretty sure Channy will be staying,” O’Neil said.

“I’ve spoken to him, he’s happy, he understands his role in the team and understands how important he is to me and the group.

“If I was managing another team I’d be interested in Channy as well, he had a really good season and it did taper out a bit when he had his injury, but he’s looked really sharp this week.

"Channy will be important to us next year and I’m confident that he’ll still be here.”

Wolves’ training game against Como in Marbella on Monday was marred by alleged racist abuse from a Como player towards Hwang.

O’Neil was pleased with the performance his side put in, as they won 1-0, but was left disappointed with the scenes.

“The lads were tired because we hadn’t prepared it as a game, we prepared it as a training session, but there was some good bits,” O’Neil added.

“When it takes that turn you feel like the rest of it is a little bit insignificant. The boys got through it, played the rest of the game with 10 and worked hard, but from that moment on the real thing is how Channy is and making sure he’s OK.

“He’ll get our full backing. They’re a tight group and they were all around Channy to make sure he’s good. He’s a resilient boy and he’ll be ready to go again.

“We wanted to make sure he was calm enough to get through the game without doing something silly, which was a concern, and he showed really good control and maturity.

“It’s a disappointing day, you can’t hide it or understate it, an incident like that ruins it.

“But once you move that aside the lads have worked hard this week.”

The head coach was also quick to praise the attitude of his whole squad as the week-long Marbella tour came to an end.

O’Neil said: “I’ve been a loan player and when you come back you’re uncertain of your future, but the way those boys have approached the week and how hard they’ve worked has been really impressive.

“The new boys have settled in and the lads coming back know the demands they have on them.

“It’s been a really good week, with a tinge of disappointment at the end.

“The good news is Channy is OK and we’ll make sure he stays that way.”