An Indonesian international has spoken about how he is mobbed when leaving his hotel by fans – but he is yet to play a game for the Premier League side he has been at for four years.
Justin Hubner has been on the books at Wolves since 2020, having joined from Dutch side Den Bosch.
The 21-year-old was born and raised in the Netherlands, but is eligible to play for Indonesia thanks to his father’s descent from the South East Asian nation, and he subsequently obtained Indonesian citizenship in December 2023.
Despite being at the Molineux club since February 2020, Hubner has not played for the West Midlands outfit’s first team and had a spell on loan with Japanese side Cerezo Osaka, which yielded eight appearances.
Though Hubner is perhaps not that well known at Wolves and by Premier League fans, the same cannot be said of Indonesian supporters.
Hubner currently boasts 2.9m followers on Instagram – around the same number as his club has on the social media platform – and since making his senior debut for Indonesia at the start of this year, he now has 13 caps under his belt.
He initially represented the Dutch at under-19 and under-20 level, before switching to Indonesia, whom he played for at under-20, under-23 and now senior level.
The central defender has spoken about the warm reception he receives from Indonesian supporters and that he cannot leave hotels he is staying at without being mobbed.
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Speaking to The Athletic, Hubner said: “I can’t leave my hotel (in Indonesia) because there are people waiting for me, running to me. Everywhere I go it’s crazy.
“If I go into a shop and then walk out, there will be maybe 100 people waiting. I’m their idol, so they are waiting for me, for pictures and autographs.
“In terms of social media, everything has just grown so fast. Everything from brand deals too. There’s so much coming to me now. It’s a dream.”
“A lot of team-mates here at Wolves say, ‘Can I change my national team to Indonesia?’, as a joke.
“But the guys here support me and are happy for me. They also want followers because it’s nice to have, but it is not about followers, the important thing is that I’m playing for the national team and what comes with it is really nice.”
He added: “When I come back to Europe it is like I am living my own life, no stress. In Indonesia, there is a crazy side.
“You have no privacy, wherever you go there’s always people recording you, it’s nice but it is also good to get back to your own space and privacy.
“When I landed in Indonesia, I tried to hide myself with a cap and a mask but they recognised me straight away. Even the security and police wanted pictures with me. There was 50 to 60 people who wanted a picture.
“My family are also quite famous now. I made an Instagram account for my mum and she has nearly 50,000 followers. Everyone recognises her. The first time she went to Indonesia, she was asking why people wanted pictures with her.”
Hubner’s Wolves contract currently runs until the summer of 2025.