Weekend Roundup 4/16-18: Lee Jae Sung rumors, Lee Seung Woo fast track questions resurface

I’ve officially given up on this season. Last season (2014-2015) was incredible, yet this time around our three “best” players (double dragon + Son) aren’t playing anymore, and neither are our two fullbacks. Suk faded after moving to Porto and Hwang, as expected, has yet to cement a starting XI spot with Salzburg after some ridiculous form with Liefering the first half of the season. As usual only our trio at FC Koreaburg have done reasonably well the second half of the 2015-2016 season – thank you KJC! To be honest, I don’t have much to say regarding the KPA’s considering that no one really played. But, some interesting debates resurfaced this past week regarding our Barca kids and player futures. 

Naturally, this depressing state of affairs has sparked some transfer discussions. Most notable, of course, has been Ki SY, who has not been playing anywhere near the level he had last season – perhaps not as dramatic as Eden Hazard but you know what I mean. Almost everyone is speculating that Ki himself wants to leave Wales considering his lack of motivation. Yet this may actually stem from all the managerial changes Swansea has gone through. Garry Monk knew how to use Ki – as a more OFFENSIVE CM, at times the wide CM in a 4-4-2 diamond. These new managers, however, seem to think Ki is like Busquets or something because he’s been played way deeper than he’s used to, and he hasn’t performed all that well defensively. Completely out of favor with Guidolin, Ki is probably going to move this summer.

I don’t know where KSY will move, but he really needs to stop being so lazy with himself. KSY has had this attitude issue right from the start. PJS LOVED the game and played with intense passion but KSY just lacks that and seems to fade or fall into bouts of awful form (or not getting along with managers). Plus, he never really hit is ceiling – the 2009 Ki Sung Yong vs. the 2016 Ki Sung Yong? Completely different players. And even the 2014-15 KSY is different. How often do you see him taking long range shots / long passes these days?

Next is the debate on Son. I don’t know what to say about this guy other than the fact that his “low” has run really long – Pochettino is aware of SHM’s limitations and seems like he’s actively addressing them, but SHM really needs the time to prove himself over the summer. Problem is, he’ll miss a good bit of preseason due to the Olympics, and I wonder if Tottenham will call him out on prioritizing the Olympics over his club. On the bright side, maybe the Olympics will force the in-form-SHM out of the horrifically-out-of-form SHM right now.

Lee Chung Yong probably should move as well unless CP – stacked with wingers – sells any of Zaha, Bolasie, Sako, etc. (fat chance). I do hear Everton is in need of new AM’s…

And speaking of Everton Lee Jae Sung is apparently being scouted by Everton and Watford. I agree it’s about time LJS leaves to Europe, but England? Certainly he’d run into work permit issues with not very many NT caps? Personally I think the Bundesliga is the best fit for a guy like him – he’s certainly not ready for EPL physicality yet.

And speaking of the Bundesliga (wow these transitions are working nicely for me today), yesterday we saw a 17 year old USA player, Christian Pulisic, score his debut goal with Borussia Dortmund. Meanwhile, our 18 year old Lee Seung Woo is only showing flashes of his talent with Juvenil A and not quite where he should be (making bigger impact on the matches). Now yes, we can’t compare the two guys because LSW couldn’t play for three years (if LSW doesn’t turn out the way he should have, Koreans need to seriously do something about FIFA…. lawsuits for screwing over a player’s career, anyone?). But naturally, this brought up questions – should we have called up LSW earlier for the NT? Is LSW regressing compared to all the other 17/18 year olds who are playing for their first teams right now?

My answers to that are 1) absolutely not and 2) absolutely not. For the first question I say no because LSW is just out of form and considering he’s only played Juvenil A games, he really wouldn’t do too well on the national team. He is definitely not ready, as opposed to guys like Pulisic, who have started once or twice for Borussia Dortmund.

I say “no” for “is LSW regressing” because regressing is too strong of a word. However, there is a possibility that he could regress, especially if LSW doesn’t quickly address his glaring weaknesses (falling down too easily, physicality). I think everything rides on how LSW is going to catch up to his peers after losing 3 years to the FIFA ban. We all know the talent is in him, but he needs to figure out a way to adapt to the older boy’s game. It’s hard considering that everyone else got to experience the U15, U16, and U17 levels while LSW went straight from half a U15 season to a U19 level. Right now it seems to me that it all rides on LSW’s and Barcelona’s hands – only time will tell whether LSW lives up to his massive potential or not. Jang Gyeol Hee likewise has this same uphill battle, having finally returned to Spain after his 18th birthday last week.

The same applies for Baek Seung Ho, really – he also lost all that time, but hey at least Baek got to train with Barcelona, something LSW couldn’t even do.

Here’s a video of LSW so far in 2016. As you can see he still produces the tricks and dribbles, but he’s just lacking the influence (and goals) he had when he was younger