Julen Lopetegui put Wolverhampton Wanderers in a tricky situation after stepping down from his position as head coach just three days before the Midlands club travelled to Old Trafford on the opening day of the 2023/24 season.

The former Europa League-winning manager took over last winter, with the Wanderers sitting rock bottom of the Premier League table but managed to steer the side to an eventual 13th-place finish despite scoring the fewest number of goals out of all 20 teams.

The Guardian reported that the Spaniard had "repeatedly voiced unhappiness" at the lack of investment from the board amid Financial Fair Play constraints during the summer, which led to his exit in the end.

However, one of his final acts as Wolves boss was to sanction the sale of a player who is currently outperforming Matheus Nunes' statistics, following the latter's £53m move to English champions Manchester City during the summer window.

Hayao Kawabe's sale

Hayao Kawabe was signed by former Wolves boss Bruno Lage in January 2022 from Swiss Super League side Grasshoppers for a reported £500k on a three-and-a-half-year deal, becoming the first Japanese player in the club's elusive history, but was sent back on loan to the Zurich-based team for the remainder of the 2021/22 campaign and the following season.

Unfortunately, the six-cap Japan international never made a professional appearance at Molineux and was sold during the most recent transfer window for £1.3m to Belgian Pro League outfit Standard Liege, giving Wolves almost triple the return on their investment eighteen months prior.

Confirming the news of Kawabe's departure in a club statement, Sporting Director Matt Hobbs admitted that the 28-year-old's move "benefitted both parties".

Prior to his permanent exit, Kawabe was being linked with a switch to Eredivisie side Fortuna Sittard for the same price. Nevertheless, opting to move to Belgium looks to be the correct decision as Kawabe's transfer value has rocketed even further, now currently sitting at £2.4m, according to Transfermarkt's valuation of the player.

Kawabe was one of four midfielders who left Wolves during the summer, alongside Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho and, most recently, Nunes, as the club accumulated £147m in transfer sales, but his recent form suggests that the board and ex-boss Lopetegui may have made an error in judgement.

Kawabe's stats this season

While Standard Liege are struggling in the Pro League this season, having picked up four wins from 12 games, Kawabe has scored three goals and registered two assists for Les Rouches and has played as an attacking midfielder, a number '8' and as a lone '6' in the middle of the park.

The Hiroshima-born player could be on his way to beat last season's tally of 17 goal contributions with Grasshopper in Switzerland, including nine goals and eight assists.

When comparing Kawabe's FBref stats in the current campaign to all other midfielders in leagues most similar to Belgium's top flight, it makes for impressive reading. Kawabe is in the top 1% for non-penalty goals per 90, the top 13% for non-penalty xG per 90, the top 12% for shots per 90, the top 4% for assists per 90 and the top 6% for touches in the opposition's penalty area per 90. These stats prove why Kawabe once described his own style as "box-to-box".

Kawabe could have been a solid replacement for Nunes for new Wolves boss Gary O'Neil had he not been sold prior to his arrival at the club. The Japanese midfielder's xG per 90 this season stands at 0.13 while he has been scoring 0.35 goals per 90. In contrast, Nunes is averaging an xG of 0.02 per 90 but hasn't found the net once.

Furthermore, Nunes is averaging double the number of passes per 90 than Kawabe this term with 49.8, although this is to be expected given Man City have more of the ball than any other side in the Premier League each game. However, Kawebe's passing is actually helping Standard Liege to progress up the pitch more, boasting 4.07 progressive passes per 90 to Nunes' 3.5.

There is no doubt that Nunes is a quality player but given how well Kawabe has performed over the past two seasons in both Switzerland and now Belgium, Wolves may live to regret letting him leave so soon and for so cheap.