Wolverhampton Wanderers have made some incredible signings since returning to the Premier League in 2018, acquiring players for decent prices and selling them on for a profit. Matheus Nunes, Diogo Jota and Ruben Neves are just a few examples of this.

However, like with all teams, there were some misses that underpin the hits and Wolves have had their fair share of flops at Molineux over the past five years.

Some of these duds have gone on to have fruitful careers elsewhere and one player in particular is currently outscoring Hwang Hee-chan this season after a disappointing spell at Wolves a few years ago.

Willian Jose's stats at Wolves

Willian Jose became a regular goalscorer for Real Sociedad in La Liga during his five-year spell with the club, having bagged 62 goals in 170 appearances in all competitions for La Real. However, midway through the 2020/21 campaign, Jose earned himself a move to Wolves to try his hand at English football for the very first time, moving to Molineux on a six-month loan with an option to buy the centre-forward for £18m.

Unfortunately, by the end of his time in England, Wolves decided not to take up the opportunity to purchase the former Real Madrid striker permanently. During his loan spell, the Brazilian found the net just once in 18 appearances for the Old Gold. His only goal came in a 1-0 win at home against Sheffield United in mid-April 2021 which condemned the Blades to the Championship after just two seasons in the top division.

What added to the transfer's misery was that Jose had been brought to the Midlands to make up for the absence of Raul Jimenez, who had been ruled out for the remainder of the season with a fractured skull. Despite featuring just ten times in that season, the Mexican striker scored four goals, having played fewer games overall than his counterpart.

Willian Jose's stats this season

At the end of his short spell with Wolves, the Porto Calvo-born attacker returned to Real Sociedad with his tail between his legs, having revealed while away that the Spanish outfit had "not treated [him] well" by allowing him to leave when offers from clubs such as Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur came.

Jose was instantly loaned out to Real Betis before permanently signing for the club in 2022 for £8m. The number '9' reignited his goalscoring form of old, hitting the back of the net 26 times in 97 appearances at the Estadio Benito Villamarin.

However, this season, the frontman has been prolific under Premier League-winning manager Manuel Pellegrini and has even outshone Wolves' star striker and top goalscorer Hwang.

Hwang has found the net seven times in 13 games in all competitions this term while Jose has scored nine goals in 14 matches. The ex-Wolves loanee has also outperformed Hwang in a number of key attacking metrics this term.

Goals

0.78

0.7o

Expected Goals

0.32

0.31

Shots

1.88

2.09

Shots On Target

1.25

0.70

Shots Per Goal

0.42

0.33

Assists

0

0.23

Expected Assists

0.08

0.21

Stats via FBref.

The South Korean attacker has proven himself to be more efficient creatively for his side than Jose but the latter has been far more potent in front of goal and leads Real Betis' goalscoring charts.

While Jose's time at Molineux was overtly disappointing, perhaps the Brazilian just needed some more time to adapt to the English game to showcase his true talent in an orange shirt.